I'll Be
by kimmiek2006
Summary: This is a Brett and Casey fanfic. I hope you all like it. I have come to love these two as friends and hope that they actually end up together on the show. Please leave a review or comment on how I'm doing with this story. I have worked hard on this story and I really like the characters of Brett and Casey in Chicago Fire. There is mention of some previous characters.
1. Chapter 1

CHAPTER 1

"Come on! Don't make me drag you there tonight." Emily Foster told her best friend, Sylvie Brett.

"Fine. If I go, will you shut up?" Sylvie Brett moaned.

"Yep. Be there by 7:00 p.m. or I'll come drag you there." Emily said.

Sylvie gave up trying to argue with her friend. They had just finished restocking and doing inventory in the ambulance and Sylvie was working on her report from the last call that she and Emily were on.

"Why do you look like you're about to kill someone?" Stella Kidd asked.

Sylvie looked at her with a weird look.

"I'll be in the locker room if anyone needs me." Sylvie said in frustration.

She was mad and angry because everyone seemed to have forgotten her birthday. Everyone usually remembered but not this year. Not one single person at Firehouse 51 remembered her birthday. She walked into the locker room and finished her report. She opened her locker and looked at the picture that was hanging up on the inside of her locker door.

"I wish you were still here. You wouldn't have forgotten my birthday." Sylvie frowned.

Captain Matthew Casey had over heard Sylvie talking to herself and quietly left the locker room and headed to the common room.

"Hey guys, Brett has no idea about tonight. She thinks we forgot her birthday and she's really upset about it." Matt Casey told everyone in the common room.

"I know she's upset but if we want to surprise her, this is the only way." Stella said.

"Well, she sounded hurt and disappointed." Matt said.

"You guys, she's coming!" Joe Cruz yelled in a semi quiet voice.

Everyone went back to doing what they were doing without trying to be suspicious. Their shift was almost over and Sylvie Brett was ready to forget today. Her friend, Brian "Otis" Zvonecek, had past away a few months ago from complications from a fire that they were working on. She past by his plaque hanging on the wall in the hallway and then walked into the common room. She walked over to the table in the back corner of the room and sat there. She had a notebook in her hand and a pen. She started writing a list of grocery items she needed to get at the store.

"You coming to Molly's tonight?" Matt Casey asked Sylvie.

She looked up from her notebook and just gave him a look.

"Look, I'm not in the mood right now to answer questions. I'm gonna try to come but if one more person asks me if I'm coming to Molly's tonight, I am going to scream and not come at all." Sylvie calmly but firmly said.

With that, Matt just walked away. Apparently them "forgetting" Sylvie's birthday made her really mad. She was very snappy with everyone. The day was going fine and at first but when the day kept going by and not one person wished her a Happy Birthday, it really just put her in a bad mood. Of all people, she figured Joe Cruz, who is her roommate, would have remembered out of everyone, but even he didn't wish her a Happy Birthday.

"Hey, what's going on with Brett?" Christopher Herrmann asked Stella in a whisper.

"She thinks we forgot her birthday but we have her surprise party at Molly's tonight." Stella whispered.

"Oh. Yeah. Uh, she's really upset." Herrmann replied.

Everyone was whispering around Sylvie and she was not having it. She got up and headed to the locker room. She grabbed her bag from her locker and headed back to the common room. It was five minutes before the shift change and she just wanted to leave as soon as her shift was over. She watched the minutes on the clock in the common room and it was now time to go home. She ran out of the station and headed straight to her car. She didn't stop to say goodbye to anyone. She got in her car and headed home.

"I can't believe they forgot my birthday. It's bad enough Otis isn't here today but to have Joe and the others completely forget my birthday..." Sylvie trailed off to herself while driving in the car.

She pulled into the parking lot of her apartment complex and parked the car. She walked up to her apartment and unlocked the door. She walked in and closed the door and headed straight for her bedroom. She grabbed some clothes and went to the bathroom to take a shower. After she was finished, she got dressed and headed into her bedroom to fix her hair. After she was finished getting ready, she headed out to her car and headed to Molly's.

"I can't believe I'm meeting my so-called friends at Molly's on my birthday when they didn't even say anything to me." Sylvie mumbled to herself in the car.

She pulled up to Molly's and parked by the street in one of the empty parking spots. As she got out of her car, she noticed that Molly's wasn't busy, which was unusual for a Saturday. She walked in and sat at the bar. She looked around but the only people she saw aside from the strangers drinking their beer were Mouch and Herrmann, since they owned the bar.

"Hey, Sylvie!" Herrmann yelled from across the bar with a smile.

"Hey, Herrmann." Sylvie said.

"Why the long face?" Herrmann asked.

"Oh, no reason. It's just been a long day." Sylvie frowned.

Sylvie sulked for a bit before deciding to leave.

"Hey, where are you going?" Herrmann asked.

"I think I'm just gonna head home. I'm really not feeling like drinking." Sylvie said.

For Sylvie to pass up a night at Molly's, Herrmann knew that Sylvie was upset. Little did she know that Herrmann and the others were planning her surprise party. The only problem is that she came into Molly's too early, so now, all of them had to come up with a plan to get Sylvie out of Molly's long enough to decorate.

"Hey Casey, it's Mouch. We have a problem." Mouch said over the phone to Matt.

"What's up?" Matt asked on the other end of the phone.

"Brett is here and we can't decorate the bar while she's here. Do you think you could come and distract her away from here so Stella, Foster, and all of us can get this place decorated?" Mouch asked.

"Sure. I'll be there in five." Matt said as he hung up the phone.

Matt grabbed his keys and his jacket and headed out of Kelly Severide's apartment and to Molly's to distract Sylvie.

"Hey Trudy, I need you to help me with this." Mouch said as he started going through decorations for Sylvie's surprise party.

Desk Sergeant Trudy Platt from Chicago Police Department is married to Mouch.

"Coming." Trudy told Mouch.

Trudy came into the storage room where Mouch was and started laughing.

"Sweetheart, what are you doing?" Trudy started laughing as she helped Mouch with the decorations.

Mouch and Trudy went through the decorations while Matt showed up to distract Sylvie.

"Fancy meeting you here." Matt joked.

"If you say so." Sylvie sulked.

Matt tried to figure out a way to get Sylvie out of the bar and finally came up with something. He reached in his jacket pocket and pulled out an envelope and handed it to Sylvie.

"Happy Birthday, Brett." Matt smiled.

Sylvie perked up a bit.

"You remembered?" Sylvie asked, confused.

"Well yeah. I mean, I went to work and forgot your birthday card on the coffee table at Severide's apartment. I didn't wanna say anything until I had a chance to give it to you. I was hoping you would be here." Matt smiled.

Sylvie's face lit up just a bit.

"Thank you, Casey. It means a lot." Sylvie smiled.

"What do you say we get out of here for a bit?" Matt suggested.

"Sure." Sylvie smiled.

Sylvie had developed a crush on Matt over the last few months since she's been back in Chicago. She and Matt had been spending a lot of time just hanging out and getting to know each other. She enjoyed his company and vice versa. She grabbed her purse and followed Matt out the door to his truck.

"So, where are we going?" Sylvie asked.

"It's a surprise." Matt smiled.

"Ok." Sylvie smiled and agreed.

Matt opened the passenger side door of his truck for Sylvie to get in and once she was in, he closed the door and walked over to the driver's side and got in. He drove them to a Chinese restaurant and ordered Sylvie's favorite meal to go and then drove them to a park.

"Happy Birthday, Brett." Matt said again with a smile on his face.

"You already told me that, but thank you." Sylvie smiled.

"So, what did you wish for on your birthday?" Matt asked.

"Well, nothing. I didn't get a cake or anything. Not even my parents called me today. My own parents didn't remember." Sylvie frowned.

"Brett, I'm so sorry." Matt said as he hugged her.

"Every year since I have lived here in Chicago, they would always call me and tell me Happy Birthday, but not this year." Sylvie started to tear up.

"Oh Brett, I'm so sorry." Matt tried to comfort her.

They talked a little bit until Matt's phone buzed to signal a text had came through. He looked at it.

"WE'RE READY! - STELLA." Matt read to himself.

"Is everything ok?" Sylvie asked.

"Uh, I'm not sure. Herrmann sent me a text saying he needs my help at Molly's. Something about a leak." Matt lied.

"Oh, alright. Well, let's go." Sylvie sweetly said.

With that, they got in Casey's truck and headed back to Molly's. Little did Sylvie know that she was about to be surprised by her friends.


	2. Chapter 2

CHAPTER 2

Matt and Sylvie arrived at Molly's and Sylvie noticed that the lights were out and no one was in there.

"I guess Herrmann closed Molly's down for tonight." Sylvie said.

"Uh yeah, I guess. Let's go find out." Matt said.

Matt walked up to the doors to Molly's to check to see if they were locked.

"That's weird. The doors are unlocked." Matt said as he opened the door.

"That is strange." Sylvie answered.

They walked in and the lights came on.

"Surprise!" everyone said as they jumped out to surprise Sylvie.

"Happy Birthday!" Herrmann yelled from behind the bar.

All of Sylvie's friends from the station were there as well as some doctors and nurses that she knew from Chicago Med and the Intelligence Team from Chicago P.D.

"Ah, you guys!" Sylvie said with a smile.

"You thought we forgot your birthday, didn't you?" Cruz laughed.

"Well, yeah." Sylvie admitted.

Sylvie scanned the bar for her parents but they weren't there.

"What's wrong?" Cruz asked.

"It's my parents. Did you or anyone call them about this party?" Sylvie asked.

"Uh, yeah. About that. I called them and they said that they couldn't make it. Other than that, they didn't say anything." Cruz explained.

"Oh, ok. Thanks, Joe." Sylvie faked a smiled.

Cruz gave Sylvie a hug and then headed over to the bar where his fiance, Chloe, was sitting. Everyone walked up to Sylvie to wish her a Happy Birthday and to give her a hug . Then, Stella and Emily came out with Mouch and Trudy with a birthday cake that said, "HAPPY BIRTHDAY SYLVIE" on it.

"Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday dear Sylvie! Happy Birthday to you!" everyone sang in unison.

"I think you can make that wish right now." Matt teased.

Sylvie gave Matt a knowing look with a smile and then blew out the candle on the cake.

"Alright, let's party!" Kelly Severide joked but was being serious at the sametime.

Sylvie couldn't help but laugh.

"There's that Sylvie Brett smile that we all love so much." Matt teased with a smile.

That look he was giving her was one that she couldn't help but smile at, but she also didn't wanna give away the fact that she had feelings for him. It was too soon to tell him and they hadn't even been out on a date. Sylvie just laughed some more before Stella and Emily dragged her away from Matt. He seemed to be a little disappointed when that happened but he shrugged it off and headed over to the bar to sit next to Severide.

"So, you honestly thought that we forgot your birthday?" Stella joked as she handed Sylvie a glass of red wine.

"Well, yeah. I mean, my own parents did. Cruz said he called them to invite them but they couldn't make it." Sylvie said.

"Aww, honey. I'm sorry. I didn't know." Stella hugged Sylvie.

Emily joined in on the hug. It didn't go unnoticed as Matt kept glancing back at Sylvie every few minutes and Kelly noticed.

"Dude, why don't you just go over there and kiss her already." Kelly joked.

Matt gave Kelly a look.

"It's not like that. Today's been rough for her. Her parents forgot her birthday." Matt explained

"Wow. That sucks. Brett's a great person. I can't believe her parents forgot her birthday." Kelly replied.

Emily and Stella were trying to cheer Sylvie up but she just wasn't feeling up for it.

"I know you both are just trying to cheer me up, but I'm just not feeling up to it." Sylvie sulked.

"Next weekend, we are gonna have a much needed girls night. Alright?" Emily chimed in.

"Fine with me." Sylvie perked up.

"Look, I'm gonna go grab Kelly and get out of here. I think he's starting to get a little drunk." Stella said as she pointed to Kelly at the bar.

Sylvie and Emily busted out laughing as they saw Stella walk away. Truth is that Stella just wanted to get Kelly to leave early so she and him could be alone in Kelly's apartment. Matt was staying at Kelly's until he could find his own place. His previous place caught on fire and his now ex wife, Gabby Dawson, who is one of Sylvie's best friends, had left him to go work for a non profit organization in Puerto Rico.

"Listen, don't make the same mistake with Sylvie that Gabby made with you." Kelly said as Stella walked up beside him.

"Ready?" Stella asked, making sure Matt heard her.

"Uh, yeah." Kelly said as he paid for his drink and left a tip.

"Guess I'm not coming home tonight." Matt joked.

"Sorry, man." Kelly said.

"Don't worry about it. I'll go to my usual place when you guys do this." Matt joked.

"Thanks, man. See ya, later." Kelly said.

"Bye, Casey." Stella replied and then followed behind Kelly to leave the bar.

"So I guess I need to call Cindy and tell her to have the couch ready tonight." Herrmann said as he walked up to Matt.

"Not yet. I'll let you know before I leave." Matt replied.

"You got it." Herrman answered and went back to bar tending.

Matt looked over to where Emily and Sylvie were once standing. Emily had left shortly after Stella walked over to the bar to get Kelly. Sylvie was now standing there looking around pretending to have a good time but Matt knew better than that. As he made his way over towards Sylvie, she got pulled into a hug by a few people from Med and then he saw that she went to sit with Kim Burgess, Adam Ruzek, Jay Halstead, and Hailey Upton over at one of the high top tables.

"So your parents didn't even call you?" Kim Burgess said to Sylvie as she took a sip of her beer.

"No and every year since I've been in Chicago, they always called. I called them earlier and my mom said everything was fine but other than that, she didn't say anything about my birthday." Sylvie explained.

Sylvie talked a little to them but Matt kept glancing back at her to see if she was still here. After making small talk with everyone, Sylvie made her way to the bar. Unfortunately, Matt had people sitting beside of him and there was only one seat available at the bar and it was at the end of the bar near the entrance doors. Matt gave her a quick glance and when she noticed, he quickly turned his head.

"If it isn't the birthday girl!" Herrmann said with a huge smile on his face.

"Hey, Herrmann. Can I get a refill of red wine?" Sylvie softly asked.

"No problem. Tonight, anything you want is on the house." Herrmann smiled.

"In that case, can I get some honey bbq wings with celery and no ranch dressing and some fries?" Sylvie asked.

"Absolutely!" Herrmann graciously smiled.

Herrmann put in the order for the kitchen and then brought Sylvie another glass of red wine. She glanced down the bar at Matt who caught her glance. He gave her a smile and she quickly turned away. She could feel the color crawling up to her cheeks, making her blush. Matt caught her cheeks turning red and just chuckled a little bit. It didn't take long before Herrman brought Sylvie's food out to her and handed her some silverware and ketchup for the fries. She ate on some of her fries and quickly realized that she wasn't as hungry as she thought she was. Herrmann was nice enough to hand her a to go box and a bag to put the small box in. After, she let Herrmann put the food under the counter so she could enjoy what was left of her birthday. As the night went by, Sylvie found herself wanting to be near Matt more and more. Three hours had passed since she had her last drink and she was now drinking water at the bar.

"Having fun?" Trudy asked Sylvie.

"A little. I think I'm just tired from a long day of work. I'm glad we are off tomorrow." Sylvie smiled.

"I hear you. Unfortunately, I have to work tomorrow but the good thing is that I get to work the night shift so that I can spend time with Randall." Trudy said.

Trudy never called her husband by his nickname, Mouch.

"That's good. I think I may just sleep in and then go down by the docks. Helps me think." Sylvie smiled.

They chatted for a little while longer and then Sylvie went to the bar to get her food and to say her goodbyes.

"Thank you guys." Sylvie smiled as she gave Mouch and Herrmann a hug and thanked them for the party.

"Anytime, Sylvie." Herrmann smiled.

After saying her goodbyes to Mouch and Herrman and getting her bag of food, she headed out but not before looking around for a certain person. He was nowhere to be found. A little disappointed, she sulked and walked outside. As she walked outside, she was meant by a dark figure.

"Leaving so soon?" Matt questioned in a husky voice.

"Uh, yeah. I'm a little tired. I feel like I have been living that movie, Sixteen Candles, where the whole family forgets the girl's birthday and they don't remember until the next day. The only problem is, my parents know what today is and they still didn't do anything." Sylvie explained.

"Happy Birthday, Sylvie Brett." Matt replied.

"Thank you." Sylvie smiled.

Matt gave her a hug and she took in the scent of his cologne. It was intoxicating and having his arms wrapped around her waist as they were embraced in a hug was even more intoxicating. Matt did the same thing to Sylvie. They pulled away and Sylvie walked to her car that was parked behind Matt's truck. Matt watched Sylvie get into her vehicle and pull away before he headed back into Molly's. It was a bittersweet goodbye. He didn't wanna let her go but he had no choice since they weren't dating. Matt wasn't sure if his feelings for Sylvie were because he had missed Gabby and having someone there for him or if it was because he in fact, wanted to get to know her more. Either way, he wanted to get to know her more but in order to do that, he would have to ask her out and that was something he wasn't ready to do just yet. Matt walked back inside to let Herrmann know that he would be going to Herrmann's house tonight and for Herrmann to call Cindy. After saying goodbye, Matt headed to Herrmann's house.

"Hey, how was the party? Sorry that Chloe and I left early. She had an early shift." Cruz asked Sylvie.

Sylvie had just walked through the door of the apartment she shared with Cruz.

"It was fine. I think I'm gonna go lay down. It's been a long day." Sylvie said.

"Goodnight, Sylvie." Cruz smiled.

"Night, Joe." Sylvie smiled back.

As she walked into her bedroom and closed the door, her phone rang. She took it out of her pocket to see who was calling.

"Hello?" Sylvie asked.

"Sylvie, it's mom. I'm so sorry that we forgot to call you. Happy Birthday." her mom said.

"Thanks, mom." Sylvie half smiled.

"Well, we love you and we'll talk soon." her mom said.

"Love you, too." Sylvie softly replied.

With that, they each had hung up the phone. Frustrated, she just shook her head and changed into her pajamas. She crawled into the bed and just laid there,  
wide awake with so much on her mind.

"It didn't mean anything. He was just being nice." Sylvie told herself.

Sylvie tried and tried to go to sleep but just couldn't. He was on her mind but little did she know that she was on his mind.

"Why can't I get to sleep?" Matt questioned himself.

Matt tossed and turned on the couch at Herrmann's, while Sylvie did the same thing in her bed. They both finally fell asleep but not without thinking of each other.

"Sylvie! Breakfast!" Cruz yelled out the next morning.

Sylvie got up and headed into the kitchen where Cruz was.

"Woah. You look like you haven't slept in days." Cruz said as he made Sylvie a plate.

"Geez, thanks for that." Sylvie playfully joked.

"You alright?" Cruz asked.

"Yeah. Just tired. I didn't get much sleep last night." Sylvie yawned.

Cruz handed Sylvie the plate of food and after making one for himself, he walked over to sit beside of Sylvie at the kitchen counter on one of the barstools.

"Hey, Chloe wants me to stay with her tonight after she gets off work so you'll have to fend for yourself." Cruz informed Sylvie.

"That's cool. I may have Foster come over, but not sure yet." Sylvie casually replied.

"Alright. Hey, uh, I've gotta go take Chloe to work. I'll be gone most of the day helping Severide and Casey work on a house for a client of Casey's. Catch you later." Cruz said as he placed his plate in the sink and grabbing his jacket and keys before heading out the door.

"Now what to do?" Sylvie asked herself.

She went into her bedroom, grabbed a change of clothes, and went to take a shower. After, she got dressed and fixed her hair into a ponytail and then walked back into the living room where she put on her shoes. She grabbed her jacket, purse, and keys and headed out of the apartment. She locked the apartment door behind her and then headed to her car where she headed down to the docks.

"Fancy running into you here." a familiar voice said.

Sylvie stopped and turned around to see the handsome figure standing behind her.

"Hey, I thought you and Cruz were helping one of your client's today." Sylvie said.

"We are. I just had to pick up something and figured I'd stop here before I headed that way. So, what brings you down here?" Matt asked with a smile.

"Ah, you know, just getting out of the apartment for a bit. I figured I'd get some shopping done since Joe is gonna be gone. You know he only buys food for himself instead of for us." Sylvie laughed.

Matt chuckled.

"Got any plans for this evening?" Matt questioned.

"Uh, not that I know of. I thought about asking Foster to come over but haven't done that yet. Why? What's up?" Sylvie inquisitively asked.

"Uh, Severide and Stella wanted to have a game night tonight. You are more than welcome to come. I think Foster and Ritter are coming as well, but I'm not sure." Matt said.

"Uh, sure. I'll come. Um, why don't you just text me the time after you find out everything?" Sylvie smiled.

"I will. See ya, Brett." Matt smiled, giving her a longing look.

"See ya, Casey." Sylvie smiled back.

Matt gave her another longing look before leaving.

"Snap out of it, Sylvie." Sylvie told herself.

She couldn't stop smiling. Matt had a way of making her feel alive. As Matt walked to his truck, he felt the color crawling into his cheeks. Tonight was gonna be an interesting night. Matt met up with Severide and Cruz at Matt's client's house to fix the roof, while Sylvie went to the grocery store to buy food for her and Cruz, but namely for her. Hours past by and Sylvie patiently waited for Matt to text her about game night, but didn't hold her breath. Finally, she heard her phone ring. She looked at her phone and saw that Matt had text her.

"GAME NIGHT. 7 p.m. SEVERIDE'S PLACE. - CASEY." the text read.

"I'LL BE THERE. - BRETT." she replied back.

Sylvie changed clothes and did her make up before grabbing her purse and heading over to Severide's house. It was 6:40 p.m. and Sylvie had a fifteen minute drive to Severide's apartment. She arrived at Severide's apartment and parked her car. She was nervous. What if no one but her shows up? She looked around the parking lot and spotted Stella's jeep, Matt and Kelly's trucks, and Emily and Ritter's vehicles. She let out the breath she had been holding in and headed up to Severide's apartment.


	3. Chapter 3

CHAPTER 3

Sylvie walked up the stairs to Kelly Severide's apartment. She was nervous, although she shouldn't be. She heard laughing going on inside.

"Suck it up, Sylvie. You can do this." Sylvie told herself.

She knocked on the door and waited for someone to open it.

"You made it." Matt said with a smile on his face after opening the door.

"Uh, yeah." Sylvie replied.

"Come on in." Matt smiled as he moved out of the way to let Sylvie in.

Sylvie walked in and was greeted by her friends.

"Hey, glad you could make it!" Stella greeted her friend.

"Me too." Sylvie smiled.

"We are almost ready. We have chips and dip over there. We have beer, soda, and wine coolers. The pizza is on it's way and there's a fruit and veggie tray in the fridge. Paper plates and silverware are on the counter with the paper towels. Help yourself to anything." Stella told her friend.

Sylvie went over to the kitchen counter and grabbed a plate, silverware, and a paper towel from the counter and then walked over to the fridge to get some fruit and vegetables from the fruit and veggie trays. She then grabbed some chips and grabbed a can of Sprite from the fridge and then walked over to the big poker table that Kelly and Matt had set up earlier.

"so, what game are we playing?" Emily asked.

"Cards Against Humanity or whatever it's called." Kelly said.

"I love that game." Sylvie sweetly said.

"What kind of game is it?" Kelly asked.

"So the rules are pretty simple. Whoever was the last to poop is the first one to go. Everyone is dealt ten white cards. The person who goes first, draws a black card and reads it. Everyone picks a white card from their hand and draws a new card. Now, the card doesn't have to go with the black card. It could be something random that doesn't make sense and that card could win or the card that makes the most sense wins. It's up to you to decide. Just make sure that you shuffle the white cards that everyone plays so that you don't know who played what card." Sylvie explained.

Matt looked at Sylvie with a huge smile on his face.

"How do you know so much about this game?" Matt asked.

"Oh, me and Cruz used to play it with Otis, Lily, and Chili all the time." Sylvie said.

"Chili?" Emily asked.

"My former partner on Ambo." Sylvie replied.

"Are we gonna talk or are we gonna play?" Stella asked with a smile.

Since Ritter was the one who brought the game, everyone decided to just let him go first instead of following the rules.

"Everyone ready?" Ritter asked.

Everyone nodded their heads and Ritter drew the first black card.

"What will always get you laid?" Ritter laughed.

It was hard for everyone to not laugh, especially since the white cards had some pretty funny sayings on them. Everyone discarded a white card for Ritter to choose from and drew one card to replace the one they just played.

"Everyone ready?" Ritter asked before picking up the white cards.

"Wait." Sylvie said as she played her card.

Ritter shuffled the white cards and then read them out loud.

"What will always get you laid? Nickelback. Alcoholism. Only dating Asian women. A man on the brink of orgasm. Meth." Ritter laughed as he read the answers.

Everyone was cracking up at the answers.

"This is a hard choice." Ritter said as he contemplated between two answers.

"I've gotta go with Nickelback." Ritter said.

"Dude, seriously? Nickelback?" Kelly laughed.

"What? The lead singer has a great voice and is kind of cute." Ritter laughed.

"Yes!" Stella said as Ritter handed her the black card.

"Your turn." Ritter said as he looked at Kelly.

Stella drew a black card.

"Maybe she's born with it. Maybe it's blank." Stella read the card.

Everyone discarded a white card and drew another white card. After, Stella shuffled the cards and began to read them.

"Maybe she's born with it. Maybe it's puberty. Sex with Patrick Stewart. The American Dream. Tom Cruise. A lifetime of sadness." Stella laughed.

"These are some seriously twisted cards." Matt laughed.

"That's the whole point." Sylvie smiled.

"Hmm...I'm gonna have to go with a lifetime of sadness." Stella said.

"Yes!" Sylvie exclaimed.

"That's twisted." Matt teased.

"It's your turn." Sylvie smiled as she waited for Matt to draw a black card.

"Blank: Kid-tested, mother-approved." Matt laughed.

Everyone discarded a white card and drew another one. Matt shuffled the cards and then began to read them.

"Silence: Kid-tested, mother-approved. Jafar: Kid-tested, mother-approved. Khakis: Kid-tested, mother-approved. Daddy's belt: Kid-tested, mother-approved."  
Matt laughed.

Everyone was laughing.

"I have to go with daddy's belt because that is just wrong." Matt laughed.

"Man, I forgot how good I am." Sylvie laughed.

"Again? That's the second black card you have gotten." Emily said.

"I know." Sylvie smirked.

Emily just laughed. This was a fun game and everyone was having fun. Sylvie drew the next black card.

"Next on ESPN2: The World Series of blank." Sylvie laughed.

Everyone discarded a white card and drew another one. Sylvie shuffled the cards and began to read them.

"Next on ESPN2: The World Series of Pretending to care. My ex-wife. The new Radiohead album. Jeff Goldblume. Being a dinosaur." Sylvie laughed.

"I swear, this is the most I have laughed in a long time." Emily joked.

"This game is getting out of hand." Kelly laughed.

Even Matt was laughing. He had to admit, this game was fun.

"I'm gonna go with being a dinosaur." Sylvie laughed.

"What do you know? I finally got one. I'm coming for you, Brett." Matt teased.

The game continued until there was a knock on the door. They all decided to take a break. Stella answered the door and paid for the pizza and brought it over to the kitchen counter. Sylvie and Emily had laughed so hard that they had to go to the bathroom. While Sylvie waited outside of the bathroom door for Emily to come out, Matt walked up behind her.

"You know that game is very twisted but freaking hilarious." Matt joked.

"That game can get pretty dirty. Those answers are mild compared to some of the other cards that are in that deck." Sylvie said.

"Why are you holding your cards? Afraid of someone looking at your cards?" Matt teased.

"Actually, yes. Whenever Joe and I would play with the others, he would always try to take a peak at my cards. We would show each other one card that we had that was the funniest because apparently Otis would show one card to Lily and Chili would show me one, so it became a thing." Sylvie smiled.

"I'll show you one of mine, if you show me one of yours." Matt teased.

"Fine with me." Sylvie smiled.

"All yours." Emily said as she came out of the bathroom.

"I'll be out in a minute." Sylvie said as she walked into the bathroom.

Matt walked over to the table and grabbed his cards and waited on Sylvie to come out of the bathroom. After Sylvie came out of the bathroom, she walked over and got a piece of pizza and then walked back over to the table.

"So, here's one of my cards." Matt said as he showed her one of his cards.

"Finding Waldo." Sylvie whispered.

"Well, here's one of mine." Sylvie said as she showed Matt one of her cards.

"A kiss on the lips." Matt read in a low, husky voice.

"It's the only good card I have. The rest of them suck." Sylvie laughed.

If only Sylvie knew what Matt was thinking. Matt knew that he shouldn't be thinking about Sylvie but after reading that card, he was curious if she was trying to hint around to something or if he was just reading more into the card than he should be. Either way, he was curious. After everyone sat back down, the game started again. It only got even more crazier with more bizarre and twisted answers, but everyone was having a good time. As the night went on, so did the game. It was almost 11 and they had to be at work at 8:00 a.m.

"That's the game. Looks like Miss Sylvie Brett just won the game." Emily joked.

Everyone laughed and helped Ritter put the cards back into the box. After, Ritter and Emily headed home and Sylvie stayed to help Kelly, Stella, and Matt clean up. Stella put away the food and Sylvie cleaned off the counter. Kelly and Matt were putting the poker table up in the spare room that Matt was currently staying in.

"Table is put up. What's left?" Kelly asked.

"Uh, no. I think we got it all." Stella replied.

Sylvie walked over to the chair she was sitting in and grabbed her jacket and purse.

"I'll walk you out." Matt said as he followed behind Sylvie.

"You don't have too, but thanks." Sylvie smiled.

Stella and Kelly noticed the cat and mouse game that Sylvie and Matt were playing with each other but didn't say anything. They knew that if they got involved, it could lead Sylvie and Matt to heartbreak or worse. This was something that the two of them had to figure out. Matt and Sylvie had walked to Sylvie's car.

"Be careful driving home this late at night." Matt's voice deepend.

His voice sent shivers down Sylvie's spine.

"I will. So, I'll see you in the morning at work." Sylvie softly said.

"Yeah. I'll see you in the morning." Matt smiled.

Matt reached down and Sylvie thought for a minute that Matt was going to kiss her but when he hugged her, she was a bit relieved. Their embrace lasted longer than it should have but Matt didn't want to pull away from Sylvie's intoxicating perfume. He loved the way she smelled. He slowly released his arms that were wrapped around her and they stood there looking at each other for a few minutes before Brett got into her car. She rolled the window down before pulling out of the parking lot.

"Goodnight." Sylvie said with a smile.

"Goodnight." Matt replied with a deep, husky voice.

Sylvie headed home and Matt headed back up to Kelly's apartment. The next morning at Firehouse 51 was just like every other day there. Ambulance 61 stayed busy. Call after call, mainly for cardiac arrests. Emily and Sylvie finally arrived back at Firehouse 51.

"Hey, I'll do the inventory and restocking. Go do the reports because you know those things take forever." Emily laughed.

"You sure?" Sylvie questioned.

"Yeah. After that last call, I just wanna be left alone, ya know?" Emily said.

"Yeah, I know." Sylvie smiled before walking away.

Sylvie headed to the common room to start working on the reports from the calls that she and Emily had been on.

"You're just now getting back from that call?" Matt asked as Sylvie entered the common room.

"Sort of. The first call came in, then another, and another, and well, you get the idea. I'm exhausted. We had five calls back to back. Foster took the last call pretty hard. I've been there. I know how it goes." Sylvie rambled on.

Matt loved it whenever Sylvie would ramble on. It was cute and it was a way for him to tell that she was nervous. Matt walked over to the table and sat down beside of her. It was just the two of them in the common room. The others were cleaning the place from top to bottom. Boden was in a foul mood because one of his superiors tried to overmind his authority about something and it put him in a bad mood.

"Wanna talk about it?" Matt asked.

"Not really. So, why is everyone cleaning?" Sylvie asked.

"Boden is in a bad mood and that can only mean one thing." Matt insisted.

"Yeah." Sylvie agreed.

"As long as you work on those reports or are on a call, Boden shouldn't say anything to you. As for Foster, she might want to take time restocking the ambo if she doesn't wanna get stuck cleaning." Matt suggested.

Sylvie reached for her phone and sent a text to Emily.

"BODEN. BAD MOOD. HAVING EVERYONE CLEAN. TAKE UR TIME RESTOCKING AMBO. - SYLVIE." the text said.

"Just sent her a text. Have you guys had any calls?" Sylvie asked.

"Just two." Matt replied.

Sylvie rubbed her neck. It had been bothering her since that last call.

"Your neck bothering you?" Matt asked.

"Uh, yeah. I think I pulled a muscle or something on that last call. It was an elderly man who had fell. We took him to Med and they said he's fine but Emily took it pretty hard. The man has dementia and was scared." Sylvie told Matt as she described the call.

"Bring your reports and come with me." Matt instructed.

Sylvie stood up and picked up her reports and followed Matt to his office. On the way there, they ran into Boden.

"Brett, why aren't you helping the others?" Chief Boden asked.

"We just got back from the last call and I have about five or six reports to work on." Sylvie told the Chief.

"Alright. Where's Foster?" Chief Boden asked.

"Doing inventory and restocking the ambo." Sylvie replied.

"Very well. Make sure you put those reports on my desk before you leave." Chief Boden instructed Sylvie.

"Yes, sir." Sylvie softly replied.

Chief Boden headed out to check on the others while Sylvie and Matt walked into Matt's office.

"Use my office. It's quieter. I'll be in Severide's office if you need me." Matt said as he closed the door behind him.

Sylvie watched Matt walk down the hallway towards Kelly's office.

"Stop it, Sylvie." Sylvie told herself.

Sylvie started working on the reports. It was 6:00 p.m. and almost dinner time. Sylvie had completed three of the reports and still wasn't finished with them. She began to fall asleep while sitting in the chair at Matt's desk. She stretched out an arm on Matt's desk and placed her head down on top of her arm. She quickly fell asleep. Matt headed to his office to get Sylvie and saw that she had fallen asleep. He just smiled and before he could do anything, Chief Boden interrupted him.

"What's Brett doing in your office?" Chief Boden asked in a low voice.

"She was working on her reports. She must have fallen asleep. I was just coming to get her." Matt explained.

"Alright. Hey, um, I got a call from OFI about Severide being transferred. Do you or Severide have anything to do with that?" Chief Boden asked.

"No, Chief. Last I checked, Severide was happy to be here at 51. If he was thinking about leaving to go to OFI, he would have told me." Matt said.

"Grissom." Chief Boden replied.

"That's my guess. Have you talked to Severide about this?" Matt asked.

"Yeah. Just told me the same thing. Thanks." Chief Boden said as he walked away.

Matt walked into his office and moved a piece of hair that was in Sylvie's face. She jumped up.

"Sorry. I just came to tell you that Cindy brought her famous taco salad and cheesecake if you want some." Matt smiled.

"Thanks. I'm coming." Sylvie yawned.

Sylvie stood up and walked with Matt to the common room to get dinner. This seemed like the longest shift and they still had several hours to go. Their shifts lasted for 24 hours and they were prepared to head out on a call at any given time. Matt and Sylvie walked into the common room and got some taco salad and cheesecake. Sylvie sat over at the table with Stella and Emily, while Matt sat at the table with Severide and Gallo. Matt glanced over at Sylvie and gave her a small smile. She returned the smile and chatted with Stella and Emily, who took notice of the exchange.


	4. Chapter 4

CHAPTER 4

"AMBULANCE 61. CARDIAC ARREST. 6246 CUSIC COURT." the woman said over the intercom.

"So much for taco salad and cheesecake." Sylvie smiled as she and Emily ran to the ambulance.

Emily and Sylvie got in the ambulance and headed towards the address.

"What's with you and Casey?" Emily asked, throwing Sylvie off guard.

"What? Nothing." Sylvie said.

"Don't give me that. Come on. Casey is totally into you." Emily said.

"We're just friends. That's it." Sylvie couldn't help but smile.

"If you say so." Emily giggled.

Emily pulled into the residence and she and Sylvie headed inside where the patient was.

"My name is Sylvie and this Emily. We are paramedics at Chicago Fire. What seems to be the problem?" Sylvie asked the patient's wife.

"My name is Amelia. This is my husband, Hector. He's been holding his chest and complaining of chest pain and can't breathe." Amelia said.

"Hector, can you hear me?" Sylvie asked.

"Yes. Your name is Sylvie." Hector replied.

"That's good. I need to check your lungs. Try to take a deep breath for me." Sylvie said.

Just then, Hector lost consciousness.

"Emily, we need to intubate!" Sylvie yelled.

They worked together to intubate the patient. Once they did that, Sylvie continued to work on the patient while Emily drove them to Med. Amelia followed behind them.

"What do we have here?" Maggie asked as she rushed over to the gurney that had Hector on it.

"Cardiac arrest. We had to intubate him." Sylvie explained.

"Can I get some help over here!" Maggie yelled.

After Maggie and one of the doctors got Hector into one of the ER rooms, Sylvie and Emily headed back to the ambulance and then went back to the station.

"Another report that needs to be done. Will it ever end?" Sylvie joked.

"I doubt it. I'll restock and do inventory. Go work on those reports before Boden has a fit." Emily whispered, hoping that Chief Boden didn't hear her.

"You sure?" Sylvie asked.

"Yeah." Emily said.

Sylvie headed to Matt's office because that's the last time she remembered having the last reports. She knocked on his office door.

"Hey, are my reports in here?" Sylvie asked.

"Yeah. Do you wanna use my office to work on them?" Matt asked.

"Is that alright?" Sylvie asked.

"Sure, but we'll have to share the office because I have my own paperwork to fill out. You ok with that?" Matt asked.

"Sounds good to me." Sylvie smiled.

As Sylvie started to walk into Matt's office, she almost passed out.

"Hey, are you ok?" Matt asked as he caught Sylvie before she fell on to the floor.

"Uh, yeah. I think it's from where I've barely had anything to eat today." Sylvie said.

"Come here." Matt said as he led Sylvie to the cot that was in his office.

Sylvie sat down and held her head.

"I'll be back. Don't move." Matt ordered.

Sylvie did as she was told while Matt went to the common room to get Sylvie's plate of taco salad and cheesecake that she left behind earlier. He brought it back to his office where she waited on him.

"Here. I figured you might want this." Matt said as he handed her the plate from earlier.

"Thank you." Sylvie smiled.

Sylvie began eating the food and Matt handed her a bottle of water from the mini fridge he had in his office.

"That call took a while. What happened?" Matt casually asked.

"Cardiac arrest. He had a massive heart attack but we got him to Med in time. I think he'll be ok." Sylvie answered.

Sylvie wasted no time in eating all the food on her plate. By the way she was eating, you would have thought she hadn't eaten in days.

"You wasted no time in eating that." Matt laughed.

Sylvie laughed back.

"What can I say? I was hungry." Sylvie laughed.

Matt and Sylvie looked at each other before they broke their stare after hearing footsteps in the hallway.

Hey Casey, Boden needs that paperwork...oh, sorry. Didn't mean to interrupt." Kelly said.

"It's ok. I was just heading out to Boden's office. Feel free to use my desk for your reports." Matt smiled.

"Thanks, Casey." Sylvie smiled.

Matt headed to Boden's office while Sylvie walked over to Matt's desk to finish the remaining reports. It took her about five hours to finish the reports. Their shift ended at 8:00 a.m. and it was only 2:00 a.m. Herrmann, Mouch, and the others were in the bunk room trying to sleep on the cots. Sylvie had left Matt's office around 1:30 a.m. after finishing the reports and although her body told her to get some rest, she just couldn't seem to get to sleep. She went to the locker room to grab a shower. It was quiet and there was a very small chance of running into anyone. She went to her locker and grabbed her gym bag and sat it outside of the shower stall. She quickly undressed and wrapped herself up in the towel. She turned on the shower and waited for it to warm up to the temperature that she liked. She stepped into the shower stall and place her towel over the shower curtain rod. She began to wash her body with the loofa that she had. The water felt nice and warm and after she was finished with the shower and getting dressed, she put her things in her locker.

"Don't even think about it." Sylvie whispered to herself.

She looked over and saw Matt's locker.

"Sylvie, no." she told herself.

After she changed back into her uniform and brushed her hair, she headed back to the common room, where she was surprised by who was sitting in there.

"Oh, sorry. I didn't realize anyone was still up." Sylvie said.

"Yeah, I couldn't sleep." Matt replied.

"Neither could I." Sylvie said as she stood in the doorway.

"You can come in here. I don't bite." Matt joked.

Sylvie walked over to the couch where Matt was sitting.

"Anything good on?" Sylvie asked.

"Not really." Matt replied and turned the TV off.

Sylvie giggled.

"So, what do you do when you can't sleep?" Sylvie asked.

"Watch TV, drink a beer, I don't know." Matt chuckled.

"Two peas in a pod." Sylvie said as she referred to herself and Matt.

"Yep. So, what do you do when you can't sleep?" Matt asked.

"Listen to music, write, watch TV, just whatever I can do." Sylvie explained.

They sat there in awkward silence for what seemed like forever until Kelly showed up.

"Hey Casey, I need your help with something." Kelly said.

"Sure." Matt said as he got up to leave.

He stopped at the doorway and looked back at Sylvie. He gave her a longing look and a smile before leaving. Sylvie smile to herself.

"Sylvie Brett, you have got it bad for a man that you can't have." Sylvie said out loud.

An hour passed by and Matt hadn't come back to the common room. Sylvie was restless. She decided to walk the hallways and as she did, she caught her breath.

"Otis." Sylvie softly whispered as she gently ran her hands against his plaque on the wall.

Sylvie stood in the hallway for a few minutes looking at Otis's plaque before being interupted.

"You know he's still with us, just not physically." Chief Boden said.

Sylvie gave Chief Boden a small smile.

"I miss him. I think we all miss him." Sylvie replied.

"He was truly a hero and I will always consider him a part of my family." Chief Boden answered.

After standing with Sylvie for a few more minutes, Chief Boden headed to his office. As Matt walked to his office, he noticed Sylvie standing by Otis's plaque. As she turned to walk towards the locker room, she saw Matt watching her.

"So, you still can't sleep?" Matt asked.

"No and I'm tired. My neck hurts. My body hurts and I'm exhausted." Sylvie said as she made her way to Matt's office where Matt was standing.

"Come inside." Matt motioned as he stepped inside his office.

Sylvie made her way to Matt's office and walked inside. Matt closed the door and the blinds.

"If anyone, especially the Chief, sees what we are doing, we will never hear the end of it. You said your neck hurts. Would you mind if I gave you a neck massage to try to help?" Matt offered.

"You can try." Sylvie answered.

Sylvie sat down in the chair at Matt's desk and Matt began to massage Sylvie's neck. Once he was finished, Sylvie felt a lot better and was about to fall asleep.

"It feels a lot better. Thank you." Sylvie said.

Sylvie stretched her arms and yawned.

"You're welcome. Looks like someone is about to crash." Matt teased.

"Yeah. I'm gonna head to the bunk room. We still have like four hours to go." Sylvie said.

"Why don't you crash in here. I mean, the blinds are closed and I've got two more reports to finish. I already got some sleep earlier." Matt smiled.

It didn't take long for Sylvie fall asleep. After Matt finished his reports, he fell asleep in his chair. It was 7:00 a.m. when Sylvie began to stir. She saw that Matt was asleep in the chair at his desk. She gently nudged him awake.

"Hey, it's 7. I'm gonna head to the common room for breakfast." Sylvie softly said.

Matt opened his eyes to see Sylvie standing over him.

"I'll be there in a little bit." Matt yawned.

Matt watched as Sylvie headed towards the common room. He followed behind shortly after. After eating breakfast, second shift came in.

"I'm so ready to get out of here." Emily said.

"You're not the only one." Stella sai.

Everyone headed to the locker room to grab a shower or to get their things before leaving the station. Sylvie grabbed her bag and was heading to her car when she heard a voice call behind her.

"Leaving without saying goodbye?" Matt teased.

"Oh, sorry." Sylvie replied.

"Where are you going in a such a hurry?" Matt asked.

"I'm going home. What about you?" Sylvie asked.

"Same." Matt replied.

They both laughed.

"So, I guess I'll see you at work." Sylvie said.

"Yeah, I'll see you at work." Matt said.

Matt watched Sylvie get in her car and pull out of the parking lot. Just as Matt started to get in his truck, he heard a huge crash. He looked up and saw it was Sylvie.

"Brett!" Matt yelled.

Everyone came running when they heard the crash.

"What happened?" Chief Boden asked as he and the others ran outside.

"I think it's Brett. I think she was in that car crash we just heard." Matt said.

They all took off to the scene. Sylvie's car got tail boned but she was fine.

"Brett!" Stella yelled as she came up on the scene.

"Brett!" Matt yelled.

Sylvie heard everyone yelling for her and saw her car. They rushed over and saw that Sylvie wasn't in her car.

"I'm over here!" Sylvie said as she sat on the side walk.

She held her head.

"Let me see that!" Emily said as she rushed over with a first aid kit.

"Are you ok?" Kelly asked.

"I'm fine. That truck came out of nowhere. I think you might need to check on the driver. Thankfully no one else was involved from what I could tell." Sylvie said.

Second shift at Firehouse 51 came on the scene and was working. First shift had just pulled twenty four hours and were officially off the clock.

"Hey guys, this driver is dead!" one of the second shift paramedics yelled.

The second shift worked hard to clear the scene as possible. The tractor trailer truck that tail boned Sylvie's car was completely destroyed. The driver had hit a traffic light pole and the truck was on fire. One of the paramedics came over to check on Sylvie.

"Brett, are you ok?" the woman asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I did hit my head on the steering wheel and I got a cut from the glass, but other than that, I'm fine." Sylvie relayed the details.

The paramedic checked Sylvie out and cleared her.

"You're fine but I really advise you to go to Med." the paramedic said.

"I will." Sylvie answered.

The paramedic rushed over to the truck where she and the other paramedic from second shift transported the driver's body to Chicago Med.

"What happened?" Chief Boden asked.

"I was at the stop sign and looked both ways. It was clear. As soon as I pulled out, I got tailed boned. To my knowledge, no other cars were involved." Sylvie said.

She was right. No one else but her and the driver of the tractor trailer truck were involved. Her head was pounding and it was possible that she had a concussion but the look on Matt's face was that of worry. Sylvie looked up at Matt and he finally released the breath that he had been keeping.

"You should go to Med." Matt urged.

"I know." Sylvie said.

"Brett, why doesn't Casey take you to Med? We'll meet you there." Chief Boden said.

"Alright." Sylvie said.

Emily and Stella helped Sylvie up and Sylvie realized that maybe she wasn't fine.

"Here." Matt said as he picked up Sylvie.

He carried her to his truck. Kelly opened the door for Matt so he could get Sylvie inside and then he walked over to the driver side and got in. Matt took off to Med while the others followed behind. Matt kept Sylvie talking until they arrived at Med.

"Casey?" Maggie asked.

"Maggie, get a gurney! Brett was in a car accident and I think she's got a concussion! She's losing consciousness!" Matt yelled.

Maggie got a gurney and Matt gently put Sylvie down on the gurney. Maggie took Sylvie to one of the ER rooms and had Matt wait outside until they knew more.  
The others arrived shortly after. They had already lost Otis. The last thing they wanted was for them to lose Sylvie but all they could do was wait.


	5. Chapter 5

CHAPTER 5

Everyone was in the waiting room of Chicago Med waiting to hear news from Maggie or one of the doctors about Sylvie's condition.

"She'll be ok. She's tough." Stella said as she tried to be optimistic.

"She's strong and healthy. It's probably just a concussion and nothing else." Emily responded.

Chief Boden noticed that Matt was standing in a corner and walked over to him.

"She'll be alright. She's a fighter." Boden said.

"I know she is. More than that, she's stubborn." Matt half laughed.

Kelly walked over to Boden and Matt and handed Matt some coffee.

"Thanks." Matt said.

Matt took a sip of coffee and then saw Maggie come out of the ER room that Sylvie was in.

"Maggie, how is she?" Stella asked.

"She's pretty banged up. Lots of bruises and some cuts, but she has a severe concussion. She's gonna be out of work for a week. She can't use her phone as that might aggrevate the concussion. We are gonna keep her here for observation. Other than that, she's fine." Maggie said.

"That's good." Emily said.

"Mind if I go see her?" Matt asked.

"Sure, but only two at a time and not for very long." Maggie said as she headed to the Nurse's Station.

Matt and Emily went to see Sylvie first.

"Hey, how's our girl doing?" Emily asked.

"I'm sore. Maggie and Natalie said that they are gonna keep me here for observation." Sylvie complained.

"Yeah, well, we need you to get better, so that's for your own good." Emily said.

"I agree." Matt said.

Emily noticed the look that Matt was giving Sylvie and decided to leave them alone.

"I'm gonna go get Stella. I'll see you when you get back to work." Emily said as she gave Sylvie a hug.

Emily left to give Matt and Sylvie some time together before Stella and the others came in.

"I know that look. I've seen it before with Gabby. What wrong?" Sylvie asked.

"I don't know. I guess I'm just glad that you are alright." Matt said just as Stella entered.

"Sorry. I just thought I'd come and see how our girl is doing." Stella smiled.

"I'm fine. Just tired." Sylvie said.

Stella gave Sylvie a hug.

"I'll see you when you get out. We gotta have a movie night and I don't think Kelly would mind." Stella chuckled.

"Sounds good." Sylvie smiled.

Stella left the room and Matt gave Sylvie a hug. The scent of his cologne was intoxicating to her and she loved it. Matt also loved the scent of Sylvie's perfume. They held their embrace for what seemed like an eternity until Sylvie gave Matt a kiss on the cheek before they pulled away from each other. Kelly and Boden came in to see Sylvie.

"How are you feeling?" Boden asked.

"Sore and tired." Sylvie smiled.

"Get some rest. We'll stop by and check on you later." Boden said.

Kelly walked over to Sylvie to give her a hug.

"You have gotta stop flirting with me like this." Kelly joked.

"Who's flirting now?" Sylvie laughed.

"Seriously though, I'm glad you're alright. Get some rest." Kelly said.

Kelly and Boden left and Matt glanced back at Sylvie with a smile. She smiled back and then Matt left. About an hour later, April came in to take Sylvie to her hospital room.

"You and Casey seem to be getting closer." April said.

"We're just friends. That's all." Sylvie replied.

"I bet that's all." April mocked.

"That is all." Sylvie laughed.

"By the looks that you both were giving each other, you could have fooled me." April gave Sylvie a look.

"There's nothing going on. When Gabby was in town about a month ago, she and Casey got together after the gala for Gabby's charity." Sylvie explained.

"So, that doesn't mean anything. Do you like him?" April asked.

Sylvie tried to deny it but April kept calling her bluff.

"Fine. You win. I do like him but I can't be with him. He was with my best friend and I couldn't hurt her like that." Sylvie said.

"They aren't together anymore. They are divorced. Both you and Casey are single." April told Sylvie.

They continued to talk for a few more minutes before April left Sylvie's hospital room and Sylvie fell asleep. The next day, Natalie came in to discharge her.

"So, besides the concussion, your tests are all good, so we are gonna discharge you. You won't be able to return to work until you see me next week to get cleared, but I want you resting and drinking plenty of fluids. I'm gonna have Maggie schedule you an appointment for early next week. No heavy lifting or excruciating work. Your head might be hurting you a lot but it's expected. You can take some over the counter medicine for that but only take it if your in pain. Alright?" Natalie said.

"Thanks doc." Sylvie smiled.

"One more thing. No driving until you're cleared. Got it?" Natalie said.

"Got it." Sylvie replied.

Natalie left the room to get Maggie to process Sylvie's discharge papers. Maggie came into Sylvie's room a few minutes after Natalie left.

"Hey Sylvie, do you have a way to get home?" Maggie asked.

"Uh, yeah. I'll call Joe." Sylvie said.

"Alright. I'll be back in a little bit with your papers." Maggie said.

Maggie left and Sylvie called Joe.

"Hey Joe, it's me. I'm getting discharged today. Do you think you could come get me?" Sylvie asked.

"Sylvie, I would but I'm with Chloe and we are out of town." Joe said.

"Thanks, Joe." Sylvie said and she and Joe hung up the phone.

Sylvie called everyone except for Matt and Boden and no one could come get her.

"Hey, it's me. I need a ride home." Sylvie said.

"I'll be there in ten minutes." Matt said.

They said their goodbyes and hung up the phone. Sylvie waiting impatiently for Maggie to come with her discharge papers and for Matt to come get her. Matt finally arrived and Sylvie's face lit up.

"Heard you're busting out of here." Matt joked.

"If they ever get my discharge papers." Sylvie laughed.

"How are you feeling?" Matt asked.

"Sore. Very, very sore." Sylvie answered.

"You ready to get out of here?" Maggie asked as she entered the room.

"Yes!" Sylvie exclaimed.

"Here's your papers. I have set up an appointment for Monday morning at 8:00 a.m. for you to see Dr. Manning for a follow up. Alright?" Maggie said.

"Thank you, Maggie." Sylvie said.

"No problem. All you have to do is get in the wheelchair so I can get you out of here." Maggie said.

Sylvie got into the wheelchair and Maggie pushed Sylvie down the hall to the elevators and Matt followed behind. They got down to the front and Matt left to bring his truck to the front entrance. He helped Sylvie get into his truck and closed the door. Maggie went back inside the hospital and Matt got in on the driver's side and drove them to Sylvie's place.

"You alright?" Matt asked as Sylvie kept rubbing her neck.

"Just my neck. I guess I'm just sore all over. I dread walking up the steps to the apartment though. Unfortunately, there's no elevator." Sylvie complained.

"That has to suck." Matt said.

He was worried about Sylvie but he knew if he took his eyes off the road to look over at her, then they would wreck. He finally made it to the parking lot of Sylvie's apartment. He got out of the truck and helped Sylvie get out. He had Sylvie use him as a human walking cane to get up the stairs and into her apartment she shared with Joe.

"Ouch." Sylvie said as she hit her arm by accident on the door.

"Are you sure you're ok?" Matt asked.

"My head is throbbing in pain and my body is aching." Sylvie winced in pain.

"Are you up for soaking in some warm or hot water?" Matt asked.

"That might help." Sylvie said.

"If it's ok with you, I'll go run you some bath water and I'll even stay out here in the living room until you get done, you know, just to make sure you're alright." Matt said.

"Ok." Sylvie told Matt in a low voice.

"Where's the bathroom?" Matt asked.

Sylvie giggled.

"Right there between the laundry room and kitchen." Sylvie pointed.

Matt gave Sylvie a smile and headed to the bathroom to draw her a warm bath. Sylvie managed to get to her bedroom to get a change of clothes. Matt came back into the living room and saw Sylvie trying to walk but she was too dizzy.

"You know better. Here." Matt said as he helped her to the couch.

"Thanks." Sylvie softly whispered.

"Do you want me to call Foster or Burgess for you to get them to come help you with the bath?" Matt asked.

"Casey, I'm fine. Just got a little dizzy. That's all." Sylvie reassured him.

After a few minutes, Matt helped Sylvie to the bathroom. He closed the door behind him as he waited for her to yell for him when she was done. Matt paced back and forth for nearly half an hour until Sylvie yelled for Matt to come help her. Sylvie had grabbed her towel but had trouble standing up due to the wet surface.

"Hey Casey, can you help me? I can't get up from the bathtub!" Sylvie yelled.

"Coming!" Matt yelled back.

Matt knocked on the door before entering.

"Is it safe to come in?" Matt asked.

"Yeah, sort of. My towel is literally soaked because I didn't want you to see me, well, you know, and I'm sort of stuck." Sylvie said.

Sylvie had wrapped the towel around her body while sitting in the bathtub. Matt walked over to her and reached out his hands for her to grab. She placed her hands in his hands and waited for her to pull herself up. He held her hands firmly and steadily and she stood up and got out of the bathtub.

"There's a towel up on the top shelf. Would you mind getting it for me?" Sylvie pointed to the cabinet above the toilet.

Matt opened the cabinet and grabbed the towel and handed it to Sylvie.

"I'll be right outside if you need anything." Matt said as he left the bathroom.

He closed the door and waited on Sylvie to get dressed. After she was dressed, she came out of the bathroom.

"If it's not too much trouble, could you brush my hair? My arms are hurting from washing it." Sylvie said.

"It's no trouble at all." Matt smiled.

Sylvie handed him the brush and they walked over to the couch. Sylvie sat down in front of Matt and he gently began brushing her hair very carefully, not wanting to hurt her. After he was finished, he placed the brush on the table.

"Thank you." Sylvie smiled.

"You're welcome." Matt smiled back.

Just then, Joe came through the door with Chloe.

"Oh, I'm sorry." Joe said.

"It's ok. Casey was helping me get to the couch. I got a little dizzy after taking a bath." Sylvie said.

"Oh. Thanks man. Sylvie, I hope it's ok that Chloe stays with us a few days to help out when she's not working." Joe said.

"Yeah, that's fine. I am tired though and really dizzy." Sylvie said.

"Want me to help you before I leave?" Matt asked.

Sylvie looked at Joe and Chloe.

"Joe, why don't we let Matt help Sylvie." Chloe said as she ushered Joe to Joe's bedroom.

Chloe and Joe walked into Joe's bedroom and closed the door. Matt stood up and helped Sylvie into her bedroom. Sylvie gave Matt a lingering hug before crawling into her bed.

"Goodnight." Matt said as he started to leave her bedroom.

"Goodnight." Sylvie smiled.

Matt returned her smile and then left her room, closing her bedroom door behind her. This was going to be a very long week without Sylvie at work and Matt had to try and figure out just how he was going to get through work without Sylvie being there. Sylvie quickly fell asleep shortly after Matt left. Her body ached all over but that was to be expected after being in a car accident.


	6. Chapter 6

CHAPTER 6

The week slowly went by but Matt longed to see Sylvie at work. She had a way of making their shift go by fast or at least made it entertaining for him. He called Sylvie every day to check on her but today was the day he had been looking forward to since she was off work. Today, Sylvie had her follow up with Dr. Natalie Manning to see if she would get to come back to work. Chloe had to take Sylvie to the hospital for the follow up since all of 51 had to work.

"You ready to go?" Chloe asked.

"Yep. All set." Sylvie said as grabbed her purse and headed out the door with Chloe.

They got into Chloe's car and headed for the hospital. They arrived and Sylvie checked in. It didn't take Natalie long to come and examine Sylvie.

"Have you had any nausea or vomitting?" Natalie asked.

"No, just been a little dizzy." Sylvie replied.

"That's to be expected with a concussion. How are you feeling?" Natalie asked.

"A lot better. My dizzy spells went away." Sylvie said.

"Well, your tests came back and you're good to return to work. We are gonna start you out on light duty to make sure you don't over do anything and see how that goes. Alright?" Natalie said.

"So, I'm cleared for work?" Sylvie asked.

"Yep. Light duty for this week and we'll see how it goes. If you do alright with that, then you can go back to regular duty." Natalie explained.

"Thanks, Natalie." Sylvie said.

"Thanks, Maggie." Natalie said as Maggie quickly came in the room with papers and then left.

"Here's your paperwork for Boden. Anything else?" Natalie asked.

"Not that I can think of." Sylvie replied.

"Take care." Natalie said as she left the room.

Chloe and Sylvie headed to 51 so Sylvie could get back to work. Chloe dropped Sylvie off and then headed to work. Chloe had a very important meeting and couldn't be late.

"Hey, what did the doctor say?" Joe asked.

"Light duty but other than that, I'm all clear to work." Sylvie smiled.

"That's great news." Joe smiled.

"Uh, Chloe wanted me to tell you that she's sorry she couldn't come in. She had a meeting she had to go to but she told me to tell you that she loves you and she will see you tonight." Sylvie smiled.

Joe blushed a little.

"Have you told the Chief or Casey yet?" Joe asked.

"On my way." Sylvie said.

"Glad you're back." Joe smiled.

"Me too." Sylvie replied.

Sylvie headed inside to see Chief Boden.

"Hey Chief, got a minute?" Sylvie smiled.

"Of course. Come in." Chief Boden smiled.

Sylvie came in and closed the door.

"So, here's my paperwork that states I can return to work but the only problem is I can only do light duty...at least until next week. Dr. Manning doesn't want me to over exert myself." Sylvie said.

"That's fine. I'm sure we can find something for you to do. Let me talk to Casey and see what he says and we'll go from there. For now, you can start by cleaning the common room. No mopping." Boden said with a smile.

"Thanks, Chief. Glad to be back." Sylvie laughed.

Sylvie left and headed to the common room. It was empty. She took out the cleaning supplies and started dusting everything. Matt came in and startled her.

"I guess you're back." Matt smiled as he saw Sylvie jump.

"Uh, yeah. Boden wants to talk to you. I am back but only on light duty. He said he wanted to see what you would say and go from there." Sylvie explained.

"You know, I could use someone to straighten up my office, file reports, you know, the boring stuff." Matt joked.

"Haha. Very funny. You're such a comedian." Sylvie laughed.

They were interrupted by everyone coming into the common room.

"Hey, look who came back!" Mouch said as he saw Sylvie.

"Hey Mouch." Sylvie replied with a hug to Mouch.

"Hey kiddo! We've missed you around here." Herrmann interrupted.

"Hey Hermmann." Sylvie smiled and gave Herrmann a hug.

"Our girl's back!" Emily said as she ran over to Sylvie and gave her a hug.

"It's about time you got your lazy butt back to work." Kelly joked.

"This coming from the guy who thinks every woman is in love with him." Sylvie joked back.

Sylvie gave Kelly a hug and then saw Stella.

"We've missed you and by we, I mean me." Stella said.

"I'm back but I'm on light duty at least until next week." Sylvie said.

"That sucks. Stella is killing me on Ambo." Emily joked.

"Hey now." Stella joked.

"I'll be back soon enough. For right now, Natalie wants me to take it easy from where I had that concussion." Sylvie said.

"Glad you're back." Ritter said as he and Gallo walked in the room.

Ritter had brought Tuesday, his dalmatian dog, with him to 51.

"Me too. Aww, Tuesday! I've missed you, too." Sylvie said as Tuesday jumped on Sylvie and she knelt down to pet the dalmatian.

Tuesday was licking Sylvie's face and Sylvie was laughing. Tuesday and everyone really missed her.

"Casey, can I see you in my office?" Boden asked as he stepped foot into the common room.

With that, Matt left and followed Boden to Boden's office.

"Brett can come back, but she's on light duty. I don't really need a secretary as I have one. Do you have anything she can do? If not, I'd have to put her on medical leave and you know how that can go." Boden said.

"I can find something for her to do. I do have some filing that needs done, she could clean my office, you know, office work. She could even take phone calls for me while we are out on calls, at least until she gets back to regular duty." Matt answered.

"Good enough for me. I only ask because Grissom and all the other head honchos around here are trying to find any and every excuse to get rid of people if they aren't able to work. If we can keep Brett a little busy but not too busy she doesn't take care of herself, they may not say anything. It's just to protect her and this house." Boden explained.

"Don't worry. We got it." Matt replied.

"Alright." Boden said.

Matt left Boden's office and headed to the common room.

"Hey Brett, can I see you in my office." Matt said in a firm voice.

Matt said it in an authoritative way so that everyone in the common room wouldn't get the wrong idea. Sylvie walked to Matt's office where Matt was waiting on her.

"Can you close the door?" Matt asked.

Sylvie closed the door.

"What's up?" Sylvie asked.

"Sorry about being all authoritative." Matt said.

"It's ok. I get it. So, what's up?" Sylvie asked.

"So, Boden was just making sure I had something for you to do while you're on light duty. Grissom and the other higher ups are..." Matt said.

"Yeah, I get the picture." Sylvie said.

"So, starting on our next shift, I want you to try to file all of these reports in the correct file and maybe sweep and dust in here." Matt said.

"So, basically 'house work' until next week." Sylvie said.

"Sorry. It's either that or medical leave." Matt replied.

"I'll take it." Sylvie answered.

"If you can, I need you to answer the phone for me and take messages. Basically be my secretary until you're completely cleared." Matt said.

"You got it, Captain." Sylvie smiled.

"Sylvie, try to take it easy. Alright?" Matt said.

"I promise. I'll try. Anything else, Captain?" Sylvie joked.

"Yeah, there is one more thing." Matt said as he met Sylvie's eyes.

She gazed into his beautiful blue eyes and it nearly took her breath away. Matt pulled her close to him and wrapped his arms around her, giving her a hug.

"Welcome back." Matt whispered in her ears.

The whisper sent shivers down Sylvie's spine. If she didn't want him before or didn't want to admit to anything, she did at this moment. Their embraces were more special these days than previously. Matt didn't want to let her go but he had too.

"Get back to cleaning the common room." Matt teased with a look in his eye that was only meant for Sylvie.

"You got it." Sylvie smiled as she returned the look to Matt before leaving.

"AMBULANCE 61. SQUAD 3. TRUCK 81. HOUSE FIRE. 8778 CLARK STREET." the woman said over the intercom.

Everyone left the station and headed to the scene while Sylvie stayed behind to clean up. Sylvie grabbed her iPod from her pocket and turned it on. She placed the headphones in her ears. After she cleaned the counters, the tables, and dusted everything, she sat down. She was a little tired and didn't want to push herself. The team came back from the call about two hours later.

"Hey kiddo. How are you feeling?" Herrmann asked as he saw Sylvie curled up on the couch.

"I'm alright. I got this room cleaned. I didn't wanna push myself." Sylvie replied.

"Never push yourself. Just take your time." Herrmann said with a smile.

"Hey, you got a minute?" Matt asked Sylvie.

"Sure." Sylvie said as she followed Matt to his office.

"Were you pushing yourself today?" Matt questioned as he closed his office door behind him.

"No. When I started feeling tired, I stopped. Dr. Manning doesn't want me to over exert myself, even if I am stubborn and don't want to follow orders." Sylvie said.

"Have you slept today?" Matt asked.

"No. Not yet but I am tired." Sylvie replied.

"You can crash in here if you want or you can crash in the bunk room. I've got to fill out a report from the last call we had." Matt casually said.

Truth is, he wanted her near him.

"Well, I could use a little rest." Sylvie said as she walked over to the cot in Matt's office.

"Sleep as long as you need too. We still have twelve hours to go before shift is over." Matt said.

"Don't remind me." Sylvie complained.

Matt couldn't help but want Sylvie close to him. For a split second the other day, the thought of losing Sylvie in that car accident made him realize that he really doesn't want to lose Sylvie in any way. It's opened up his eyes to the realization that he might truly have feelings for her that he has been hiding but right now was not the time to tell her. Sylvie needed to recover from the car accident and get back into her routine of work before Matt could even think about asking her out on a date.

"Get some rest." Matt smiled.

"Yes, sir." Sylvie mocked.

Matt chuckled and went back to working on his report. Sylvie instantly crashed as soon as her head hit the pillow. She was asleep for a few hours before waking up.

"Hey, what time is it?" Sylvie asked.

"8:00. You missed dinner." Matt replied.

"Sorry." Sylvie yawned.

"It's ok. I saved you some. It's in the fridge in the common room." Matt smiled.

Sylvie got up and headed to the common room. She gave Matt a huge smile before she left his office. That woman had Matt Casey thinking things he shouldn't be thinking but he was starting to care for her as more than a friend. Sylvie was starting to feel the same way but given that Matt had literally just had a one night stand with Gabby, his ex wife, and she had just broke up with Chaplain Kyle Sheffield just a few months ago, now wasn't the time to get involved with each other. Both of them wanted to sneak away to the locker room for a quick hookup but they didn't because they weren't sure of how the other felt and they didn't want to ruin their friendship.


	7. Chapter 7

CHAPTER 7

"AMBULANCE 61. TRUCK 81. SQUAD 3. ENGINE 51. BATALION CHIEF. PIN-IN ACCIDENT. DOUGLAS BOULEVARD." the woman said over the intercom.

"It's bad! Let's go!" Matt ordered.

Everyone quickly ran to the garage and left. It didn't take them long to arrive on the scene. It was bad. There was a woman with two children trapped in a car.

"My name is Emily and this is Stella. We are with Chicago Fire. What's your name?" Emily asked.

"Aria. My children's name are Wyatt and Maddie." Aria said.

"Aria, listen to me. We are gonna get them out safely. Stella, check on the children while I work on Aria!" Emily ordered.

Stella managed to get the children out of the car and checked them.

"This is Ambulance 61 requesting back up at Douglas Boulevard!" Stella yelled into her radio.

"Copy that." the dispatcher said.

"We need a back board!" Emily yelled.

Joe and Kelly rushed over with a back board for Emily.

"Aria, I need you to stay with me. Ok." Emily told Aria in a calm voice.

The back up ambulance arrived and Emily did a hand off with them.

"Her name is Aria and she has two children. We are taking them to Med." Emily told the other paramedics.

With that, they hurried to the ambulances and drove to Med.

"Casey, what's the deal with the other victims?" Boden yelled.

"We got them out!" Casey relayed.

"Alright, let's clean up!" Boden ordered.

Everyone started cleaning up the accident. Meanwhile, Stella and Emily had just arrived back at 51.

"So, how's Casey's office?" Emily teased.

"What are you talking about?" Sylvie asked.

"Oh, come on, Brett. Casey has been pulling you into his office a lot lately and the blinds have been closed." Stella commented.

"It's not like that." Sylvie said.

"I bet it's not like that. Come on. What is up with you two?" Emily asked.

Before Sylvie could answer, the rest of Firehouse 51 showed up.

"Brett, you're slacking!" Kelly teased.

"At least I have an excuse to slack off. What's yours?" Sylvie joked.

"Fair enough." Kelly smiled.

"Severide, when are you ever gonna grow up?" Sylvie asked.

"The day I get married." Kelly answered.

"Wait, weren't you already married before?" Sylvie commented.

"Ok, ok...I give." Kelly joked.

"Sylvie wins again." Stella teased.

Matt was laughing at the constant bickering between Sylvie and Kelly. It was pretty hilarious how Kelly would always pick fights but the reason he did that with Sylvie and no one else is because Sylvie reminded Kelly of Leslie Shay, former paramedic of 51 who died in a fire. After Sylvie found that out, she kind of took to Kelly and considered him like family.

"Is it time to go home yet?" Emily complained.

"Four more hours or less...I think." Sylvie answered.

"Don't remind me." Stella said.

Everyone headed to the bunk room to get some rest except for Kelly, Stella, Matt and Sylvie. Matt went to his office and Kelly and Stella went to the locker room to have some fun of their own. Sylvie stayed in the common room and watched TV. Sylvie was getting a little hungry and walked to the fridge to see what was in there.

"Figures there's nothing." Sylvie said to herself.

Sylvie closed the refridgerator door and looked in the cabinet for something to eat.

"Still nothing." Sylvie grumbled.

Sylvie walked back over to the couch and flipped through the TV channels on the TV. Nothing was on. Sylvie wanted to see Matt. She wanted to kiss him.

"Snap out of it." Sylvie told herself.

She walked the hallways a few times before walking back to the common room. This restlessness didn't help her much. It was an hour before shift change and Sylvie decided to cook breakfast for the whole house. The smell of bacon, eggs, sausage, gravy, and fried potatoes filled the air. Everyone slowly came into the common room for breakfast.

"Smells great!" Stella said as she and Kelly walked in the common room together.

"Thanks." Sylvie replied with a smile.

Everyone grabbed a plate of food and sat down to eat. Matt was the last one to stroll in along with Chief Boden.

"Smells great in here. Who cooked?" Chief Boden asked.

"I did." Sylvie softly answered.

Boden gave Sylvie a look and then grabbed a plate of food. He sat down and tasted the eggs.

"Brett, these are probably the best eggs I've ever had aside from Donna's." Boden laughed.

"Thanks, Chief." Sylvie smiled.

"These are good." Matt smiled.

"Thanks." Sylvie smiled.

Everyone finished eating and Sylvie cleaned up and left the next shift leftovers for them to eat. Everyone headed towards the locker room, except for Chief Boden, who went to his office. Sylvie, Stella, and Emily grabbed a shower in the women's shower room while the men did the same in the men's shower room. After changing clothes and everything, everyone started to head out. Sylvie didn't have a car as her car was practically destroyed in the car accident, so she relied on her friends at the house to give her rides until she can get a new car.

"Hey Sylvie, I'm meeting Chloe at her house. Do you have a ride home?" Joe asked.

"Uh, yeah." Sylvie said.

"See you later, roomie." Joe said as he hugged Sylvie and headed to his car to go to Chloe's.

"Your roommate bailed on you?" Matt asked.

"Yeah. He's going to Chloe's." Sylvie answered.

"Wanna lift home?" Matt asked.

"I'd love one." Sylive responded.

They walked to Matt's truck, got in, and Matt drove Sylvie to her apartment. He parked the car after parking in the parking lot of Sylvie's apartment buiding.

"Thanks for the ride. Catch you next shift." Sylvie smiled.

Matt knew that it was either now or never to say what he had been wanting to say for a while, or at least try to say it.

"Hey, I got a question. Would you wanna grab dinner with me tonight?" Matt blurted out.

He caught Sylvie off guard.

"Uh, uh, yeah. I don't see why not." Sylvie stammered.

Matt gave her a smile.

"You need some help?" Matt asked as he noticed Sylvie getting a little out of breath.

"You don't mind?" Sylvie asked.

"You need to take it easy this week." Matt said.

Sylvie laughed and then Matt chuckled.

"I guess you're right. Let's go." Sylvie said as she and Matt headed inside the apartment and up the stairs.

They got upstairs and Sylvie noticed that the door was opened, almost like someone had broken into the apartment.

"Did Cruz come home and forgot to shut the door?" Matt asked.

"Casey, I don't think Cruz is here." Sylvie answered.

"Stay here." Matt ordered as he used the sleeve of his jacket to push the door open.

The two of them walked inside the apartment and saw the apartment was trashed. Glass had been broken. Lamp shades torn off the lamps. The furniture was turned upside down.

"Brett, call CPD. Get Voight here." Matt ordered.

Sylvie called CPD and within a few minutes, Voight and the Intelligence Team arrived.

"What happened?" Kim Burgess of the Intelligence Team asked.

"I don't know. Casey gave me a ride home since I had my car accident last week and when we got up here, we noticed that the door was opened, almost like someone had forced it opened. Casey used the sleeve of his shirt to open it and even asked if Joe had accidentally left the door opened. That's when we saw the mess in here." Sylvie told Burgess.

"Thank you." Burgess said as she went over to take Matt's statement.

Burgess walked over to Matt to take his statement.

"...and that's all we know." Matt said.

"Thanks." Burgess said as she went over to Voight and gave him Sylvie and Matt's statements.

Voight walked over to Sylvie, who was very shaken up.

"Hey Brett, we are gonna find whoever did this. I need you to put these gloves on so if you touch anything, your prints don't end up on the evidence. I need you to go see if anything is missing, you know, jewelry, money, anything of value. I'm gonna have the CSI guys come in and check for prints. I need you to grab a few changes of clothes because as of now, this is a crime scene until we know what the perp was looking for. This was no random act of a robbery. All the other apartments were fine." Voight explained.

Sylvie put on the medical gloves, went to her bedroom, grabbed a bag and then put some clothes in it. She also looked around the mess in her room and checked for anything that could be missing. Nothing of significant importance was taken but her room was trashed. She went to Joe's room and saw that his room had been trashed as well and left his room. Otis's room was the room she feared the most. That room had all of Otis's things and it frightened her to check it but she had no choice. She had to do this.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Matt asked as he went to check on Sylvie.

"My room and Joe's room are trashed but from what I could tell, nothing was taken. I need to check Otis's room but neither Joe nor I have been in there since uh, you know..." Sylvie trailed off.

"You want me to go with you?" Matt asked.

"No. I can do it." Sylvie said.

Sylvie walked over to Otis's room and opened it. It was trashed too. She started crying. The one room she had hoped that no one touched had been destroyed.

"Voight, we got something!" Jay Halstead yelled.

Voight walked over to where Jay was standing.

"We found this under some of the mess. It looks like it's the same perp that we have been chasing for a week. He's getting brave going after CFD members."  
Jay said.

"Son of a..." VOight said before being interupted.

"Voight, we need to get them out of here. If Jason Callahan is targeting CFD members, it's only a matter of time before he targets the CPD too. Brett, does the name Jason Callahan ring a bell?" Jay asked.

"Uh, yeah. He was one of the patients that Emily and I helped a few weeks ago." Sylvie said.

"Jason Callahan is a serial killer that we have been tracking for a few weeks, around the same time that you and Foster probably helped him. He targets young women, in their teens and early twentys. He must have been following you." Voight chimed in.

"Should we call Foster?" Matt asked.

"Foster doesn't fit the perps MO. The perp likes young, single, white females who live alone or with someone else. Callahan likes to stalk his victims and play mind games with them before he lets them know that he's coming for them. His signature is breaking into houses and staging a robbery. He will either wait on his next target to come home or he'll leave a message like this. Either way, we need to get you and Cruz out of here. I'll go grab some things from Cruz's room to bring to him." Matt explained.

Matt followed the same procedure that Sylvie did before coming back out with a duffel bag of clothes.

"You can run but you can't hide." Jay said as he read the note.

"That's the exact same note that we found at the other scenes." Burgess said.

"Casey, I want you and Brett to get out of here and go somewhere safe." Voight said.

Sylvie just had a thought crossed her mind.

"Do you think this has something to do with the car accident I was in?" Sylvie asked.

"I doubt it. We investigated the scene and there were no signs of Callahan anywhere." Burgess said.

"Casey, you and Brett need to stay somewhere safe. You have any place you can go?" Voight asked.

"51 is the safest place I can think of." Matt said.

"I don't want Brett going out on any kind of calls. Who is working Ambo right now?" Voight asked.

"Kidd and Foster are. Brett's on light duty at the house until further notice." Matt answered.

"Keep her there. You need to let Boden and Cruz know what's going on. As soon as we know more, we'll let you know." Voight said.

"Thank you." Sylvie said.

"Thanks." Matt replied.

Matt and Sylvie left the apartment and headed to Chief Boden's house. Sylvie was nervous but Boden had to know before news spread. Matt and Sylvie walked up to the front door of Boden's house and knocked on the door.

"Brett. Casey. What brings you by?" Chief Boden asked.

Matt and Sylvie relayed the events that transpired.

"You can stay at 51 as long as you need to until they catch the guy who did this." Chief Boden said.

After talking to Chief Boden for a little bit, the two of them headed out to 51. Sylvie called Joe on the way to 51 to let him know of the situation. Matt and Sylvie arrived at 51 and Matt seemed to be a little over protective of the woman who had been there to help him through some of his darkest days, especially during the last Gabby breakup. No way was he going to let someone hurt the only woman who cared for him more than the others ever did.


	8. Chapter 8

I thoroughly enjoy writing fanfics and this is only the second Chicago Fire fanfic about Sylvie Brett and Matthew Casey that I have written. I would really appreciate it if you could take a minute and give me your thoughts on this story.

CHAPTER 8

"Sylvie, what happened?" Joe asked as he met Sylvie and Matt at 51.

"Joe, Intelligence is looking into it. Casey brought you some clothes but we can't go back to the apartment until they say it's ok." Sylvie explained.

Matt handed Joe the duffel bag of clothes.

"Why don't you stay with Chloe and I at Chloe's?" Joe suggested.

"Joe, no. With the Intelligence Team still looking for the guy that did this, I don't wanna put you and Chloe in danger. Boden suggested that I stay here at 51 until they catch the guy. At least it will be hard for the guy to come after me with a bunch of people around." Sylvie explained.

Joe looked at Matt and then at Sylvie.

"I guess that's actually the best option right now. If you need anything, you call. You technically can't work until next shift." Joe said.

"I will. Thanks, Joe." Sylvie smiled as she hugged her friend.

Joe left and Matt walked Sylvie inside.

"It's gonna be alright. In fact, I plan on hanging out with you until this guy is caught. No arguments." Matt said authoritatively.

"So, I guess I don't really get a say in this, do I?" Sylvie asked.

"No, you don't." Matt said.

"Fine." Sylvie said.

Matt and Sylvie walked into 51 and Matt didn't want Sylvie by herself anywhere in 51, so he came up with the bright idea of having her sleep in his office.

"Brett, you're sleeping in my office. I'll take the bunk room. You can lock yourself in the office if you get scared." Matt said.

"Casey, I'll be fine. I just wanna sleep." Sylvie said.

Matt and Sylvie walked into Matt's office.

"Get some sleep. I'll be in the bunk room if you need me." Matt said.

"Will you stay here until I fall asleep?" Sylvie asked.

"Yeah." Matt answered quickly.

Sylvie put her bag on the floor and then crawled into bed. As soon as her head hit the pillow, she was out. She was tired from everything and was still recovering from her injuries. Matt waited a few more minutes to make sure that she was asleep and then walked out of his office. He closed the door to the office and headed to the common room. He made himself a plate of cheese and crackers. He walked back to the common room and quietly opened the door to his office and then sat in the chair at his desk.

"HOW'S BRETT? - SEVERIDE." the text read as Matt read the message.

"ASLEEP AND SHAKEN UP. - CASEY." Matt replied to Kelly's text message.

It was gonna be a long day off. Sylvie tossed and turned until she finally woke up.

"So much for sleep." Sylvie grumbled as she woke up.

"You hungry?" Matt asked.

"Yeah." Sylvie yawned.

"What do you want to eat?" Matt asked.

"Hmm...you know, I'm in the mood for Chinese food." Sylvie smiled.

"Chinese it is." Matt said as he grabbed his phone out of his pocket.

Sylvie told Matt what she wanted and he placed the order. Thirty minutes later, the delivery man arrived and Matt paid for the food and then came back to the common room where Sylvie was waiting on him.

"Food's here." Matt said.

"I'm starving. So much for a night out for dinner." Sylvie teased.

"This is better." Matt flashed a smile.

Sylvie gave him a smile back and they began to eat their food.

"Hey guys, Halstead and Ruzek are here to see you." Chief Boden's new secretary said.

Jay Halstead and Adam Ruzek walked into the common room where Sylvie and Matt were.

"Hey guys, so we have an update on the situation." Jay said.

"Ok. What is it?" Sylvie asked.

"Upton got the same message in her apartment that you did. The same exact thing happened to her. We are taking every precaution we can to protect you and Upton and to catch this guy." Jay said.

Sylvie looked at Jay and Adam.

"Look, don't you worry. We are gonna catch this guy. We have a lead that we are following but it's not gonna be easy." Adam said.

"I hate that I can't go anywhere because of that psycho." Sylvie angrily said.

Just then, Jay received a phone call.

"Are you absolutely positive it's him?" Jay asked.

Sylvie was trying to make out Jay's conversation while trying to listen to Adam.

"Alright, so that was Voight. Callahan has targeted another possible victim. He's getting a bit more sloppy and so we are gonna use a decoy to lure Callahan.  
If we can pull this off, then we'll be able to catch him." Jay said.

"So, if you are gonna use a decoy, who are you gonna use?" Matt asked.

"One of our undercover agents. We are gonna set her up in a fake address where we will be waiting on him. Once he shows up, he's not ever seeing the light of day again." Jay said.

"Thanks guys. Please, catch this guy." Sylvie pleaded.

"Will do." Adam said.

Jay and Adam left and Sylvie and Matt went back to eating their food.

"I just wish this nightmare would end." Sylvie said.

Matt pulled her into a hug.

"I know. I know." Matt calmly reassured her.

His embraces had a way of making her go weak in the knees. She craved his embraces more than she should but she still wasn't sure how he felt about her.

"Thank you." Sylvie softly whispered.

"For what?" Matt asked.

"For helping me through this." Sylvie answered.

"They are gonna catch this guy." Matt said.

"I hope so." Sylvie replied.

They finished their food. As the day went on, Sylvie began to feel suffocated being at 51 after a few hours. She needed some air.

"Casey, if I don't get out of here soon, I am going to go crazy." Sylvie answered.

Matt could see that Sylvie was getting restless, especially since she hadn't been able to sleep. Matt made a phone call and Sylvie tried to make out who he was talking too and what he was saying but since Matt walked into the hallway, she couldn't make out anything.

"How would you feel about going bowling?" Matt asked.

She gave him a funny look.

"Bowling?" Sylvie asked.

Matt nodded his head.

"Yeah, unless you have a better idea." Matt said.

"No, bowling sounds fine but so does Molly's." Sylvie grinned.

"Ah, Molly's. Why can't we do both?" Matt grinned.

"Now that's a date." Sylvie laughed.

Matt grinned at her and then it hit her over what she just said.

"I don't mean it's a date. Just that it's a..." Sylvie nervously mumbled.

"I get it." Matt chuckled.

With that, Sylvie and Matt headed to the bowling alley. Several hours had passed and it was 6:00 p.m. when they arrived at the bowling alley. Little did Sylvie know that Matt wanted this to be a date. He was more than thrilled when she said it was a date, even when she nervously back tracked her words. After Matt paid for their game and bowling shoes to use, he and Sylvie went over to Lane 1 where they sat down, put on the bowling shoes, and started bowling. Sylvie bowled first, followed by Matt. After two turns each, Matt stopped Sylvie before her turn.

"Hey, remember when you said this was a date and then said it wasn't a date?" Matt asked.

Sylvie gave him a curious look.

"Yeah." Sylvie curiously answered.

"Well, if it's alright with you, I'd like to consider this a date, at this the bowling and food part." Matt nervously said.

Sylvie looked at him, her eyes filled with happiness.

"I thought you'd never ask." Sylvie grinned.

Matt saw the grin on her face and returned his grin to her.

"I think you're up." Matt teased with a whisper.

They were looking at each other and sitting very closely next to each other.

"I think you're right." Sylvie whispered.

After a minute, Sylvie got up, grabbed her bowling ball, and took her turn bowling. She bowled a strike and got to go again. She bowled another strike but ended up getting a gutter ball on the third try.

"Well that was crappy." Sylvie joked.

"Let a pro show you how it's done." Matt smirked.

"A pro? Really? Alright, Mr. Know It All. Let's see you do better." Sylvie teased.

Matt bowled two strikes and a gutter ball just like Sylvie did.

"Ok 'Mr. Let A Pro Show You How It's Done' Casey. Nice going." Sylvie teased.

"I did that on purpose." Matt grinned.

"Sure you did." Sylvie smirked with a laugh.

They continued with the banter and bowled a few more frames until they got to the last frame of the game.

"You know, I have a very good view from where I'm sitting." Matt teased with a grin.

He was checking out Sylvie from behind and she just rolled right along with his playful banter.

"I bet you do. You get to see me get this third strike that I have been trying to get since we started this game." Sylvie joked.

Matt chuckled at the thought.

"Alright, princess, go bowl a strike." Matt joked.

Sylvie bowled her last frame and to both of their surprise, she made the strike.

"Yes!" Sylvie exclaimed, excited about getting three strikes in a row.

Matt smiled and gave her a hug. She returned the hug and then they pulled away. They were gazing into each other's eyes and were standing as close as they could possibly be. They were about to kiss but then Sylvie's stomach started to growl. They both laughed.

"Someone's hungry." Matt commented.

Sylvie giggled.

"Maybe just a little." Sylvie replied.

With that, they finished their game and turned in the bowling shoes they rented. After, they headed to Molly's to grab a bite to eat. Herrman didn't serve food to just anyone. He only served food to Firehouse 51, CPD, and Chicago Med. Both Matt and Sylvie were enjoying their "date" night. It was perfect, even though Sylvie was still in danger from the serial killer that the Intelligence Team was still trying to catch. Matt could sense that Sylvie was still worried, but he did what he could to take her mind off of it.


	9. Chapter 9

Thank you guys for the reviews! I truly appreciate them! I have two past characters returning in this chapter that I hope you all will enjoy. Please continue to write reviews or comments, as I really do enjoy reading them. This is definitely a romance story and I know I'm on Chapter 9 and Sylvie and Matt have yet to kiss, but I'm trying to write these two as a slow burn, if you all know what that is. Anyway, enjoy this chapter and the next one should be up in a little bit :)

CHAPTER 9

While at Molly's, Adam Ruzek and Jay Halstead walked over to where Sylvie and Matt were sitting.

"Hey guys, we don't we don't mean to interupt but we have an update." Jay said.

Sylvie and Matt tried to study Jay and Adam's faces for a minute.

"And?" Sylvie asked.

"We got him. There's no way he's getting out of jail. He's going away for life and if Voight has his way, well..." Adam trailed off.

Hank Voight was known for roughing up the perps to get them to talk.

"How? How did you catch him?" Sylvie asked.

"He was dumb enough to follow one of our undercover agents and Upton. Needless to say, he's been caught and you're safe." Jay said.

"Thank you guys." Sylvie sighed with relief.

Jay and Adam nodded and then headed over to the bar since they were off shift. Everyone from 51 was at Molly's when they got a surprise visitor who came in. They hadn't seen this person in a few years. A few letters here or there with updates, but this was the first time in a very long time that they had seen this person and everyone was happy.

"You've gotta be kidding me." Herrmann smiled.

Herrmann walked over and gave the person a hug.

"I don't believe it." Mouch said in shock.

Mouch walked over and also gave the person a hug.

"It's good to see you guys." the person said.

Sylvie and Matt were smiling. They were in shock but in a good way.

"I don't believe it!" Sylvie exclaimed.

"What are you doing here?" Matt asked with a smile.

"What? I can't come and visit?" the person asked with a smile.

"Of course you can." Matt smiled and gave the person a hug.

After making their way across the room, there was Chief Boden smiling from ear to ear.

"I take it that you missed all of us?" Chief Boden joked.

"I did but I'm not staying. I'm only here for the weekend. I leave Monday morning heading back." the person said.

"How are things going?" Boden asked.

"They are going really well but I was wondering if I could come by the house on next shift." the person said.

"You know you are always welcome to visit. I'm a bit shocked, but you're more than welcome to visit." Boden said.

"Listen up!" Herrmann yelled.

Everyone stopped talking to look at Herrmann.

"Next round of drinks are on the house in honor of our good friend coming home!" Herrmann yelled with a huge grin.

Matt knew how close Sylvie was with this person. It had been good to finally see her smile brighten up her face.

"I have missed that smile of yours." the person said.

"Haha. I don't miss the way you bossed me around in Ambo." Sylvie joked.

Matt had to laugh because for the longest time, Sylvie was not the PIC on Ambo. She worked really hard to become the PIC on Ambulance 61 and so it was kind of funny hearing the bantering between two former partners.

"This coming from the girl who questioned me when I went back on Ambo." the person laughed.

"Well, you weren't to thrilled about working on Ambo with me." Sylvie laughed.

"That's true but in all fairness, I wasn't in the best state of mind at the time." the person smiled.

"How long are you here for?" Matt asked.

"I leave Monday. I'm gonna stop by 51 next shift before I leave. I'm just passing through." the person said.

"Stay and have a few drinks with us." Matt suggested.

The person agreed and it they were all catching up. As they all talked, they heard glass clinking.

"Alright, I wanna propose a toast!" Herrmann yelled.

Everyone turned to face Herrmann, who was behind the bar.

"I don't care if you are here for a short time, I just wanna say that you always have a home at 51! Welcome Home, Peter Mills!" Herrman exclaimed.

"Welcome Home!" everyone said in unison.

"Thank you, Herrmann!" Peter said with a smile.

They were all enjoying Peter's visit. Peter was telling everyone he knew from 51 about what's been going on since he moved to North Carolina. Little did everyone know that Peter had brought two people with him, which is why he wanted to stop by the house on next shift. After a few hours of hanging out at Molly's and catching up with Peter Mills, Matt and Sylvie left and headed back to 51 since Sylvie's things were there. CPD had given Sylvie and Joe the all clear to go back home but for the night, Sylvie decided to stay at the house. They said their goodbyes to Peter and everyone at Molly's before leaving. When they arrived back at 51 and walked into Matt's office, Sylvie walked over to the cot in Matt's office and crawled in. She was tired. She had hardly slept and Matt was tired as well. He grabbed two spare blankets from one of the storage rooms and then came back to his office. Sylvie instantly fell asleep as soon as she laid down and Matt wasn't about to wake her up. He placed one blanket on the floor and then laid down and covered up with the second blanket. He used his jacket as pillow. Matt couldn't sleep. He watched Sylvie as she tossed and turned before she woke up.

"What are you doing on the floor?" Sylvie groggily asked.

"You were sleeping. Didn't wanna wake you." Matt grinned.

"I don't bite. Why don't you come lay next to me. I promise I won't do anything." Sylvie yawned.

That's not what Matt was worried about. He was worried about what he might do being that close to her.

"No funny business. Ok." Matt joked.

"Deal." Sylvie said as she scooted over to give room for Matt to lay on the cot next to her.

Matt crawled onto the cot next to Sylvie and before either of them knew it, they had fallen asleep. Even though they had to work the next morning, well, later that morning, they were already at the firehouse. It was going to be a long second shift but Matt didn't care. Sylvie's health and safety came first. Several hours went by and Matt and Sylvie were now getting ready for their shift. The two of them along with the rest of second shift, were all gathered in the common room eating breakfast when Peter Mills stopped by.

"Hey kiddo, welcome home." Herrmann said as he gave Peter a hug and welcomed Peter with open arms.

"Thanks Herrmann." Peter said.

"Hey, who is the new guy?" Emily asked in a whisper.

"I don't know. I didn't go to Molly's last night. I think Kelly said that an old friend came by but I was too tired to remember much." Stella replied.

"How's my favorite paramedic?" Peter teased.

"You're just saying that because Dawson isn't here." Sylvie joked.

"Yeah, yeah. Seriously, I heard about what happened. How are you?" Peter asked.

"I've been better. I take it that you heard about that psycho that was after me and the car accident I had." Sylvie said.

"Yeah. How are you doing?" Peter asked.

"I just need rest. The doctor has me on light duty, so no Ambo for me until I go back to the doctor." Sylvie explained.

"I get it. I was sidelined for a while, remember?" Peter said.

"Yeah, I remember." Sylvie smiled.

"It'll get better. You'll be back in no time." Peter replied.

"Hey Peter, what brings you back to Chicago? Not that we are complaining." Mouch asked.

"Oh, um, I am helping a friend with something. He's out in the car waiting on me. I can bring him in and let you guys meet him if you want." Peter grinned.

Everyone wanted to meet the man that Peter had with him. He called the man and the man came in.

"I don't believe it!" Herrmann said.

"Why do I get the feeling that you two kids are planning a coup to take over Squad 3?" Kelly chimed in, jokingly.

"You miss us, Severide. Admit it." the man said.

"If you say so." Kelly laughed as he gave the man a hug.

"Not trying to be rude, but does someone want to tell me who these guys are?" Emily asked.

Everyone started laughing.

"Well, look who showed up after how many years." Chief Boden laughed as he hugged both men.

"Foster, Kidd, this is Peter Mills and Rick Newhouse. Both former members of Squad 3. Also, Peter was a paramedic on Ambo 61 with Brett." Matt said as he introduced them to Peter and Rick.

Everyone talked for a while, catching up and since Peter and Rick were only in town for the weekend, they all wanted to spend time with them. It was Wednesday, which meant they only had a few short days to spend with them before they left Monday morning going back home. Rick had came to visit Peter in North Carolina while doing an odd job. The dispatcher called in a call for the whole house, except for Sylvie, to go on.

"You gonna be ok?" Matt asked Sylvie before leaving.

"Yeah, go!" Sylvie told Matt.

Matt gave her a look that she was too familiar with and then left to go on the call. Although Matt was glad that Peter and Rick were visiting, he did not want to leave Sylvie alone. They had an amazing time the night before but it was cut short.

"Some things never change." Peter joked.

"No, they don't." Sylvie chuckled.

Peter, Rick, and Sylvie chatted for a while until Jay and his partner, Hailey Upton, showed up.

"Hey, got a minute" Jay asked Sylvie.

"Sure. What's up?" Sylvie asked.

"I know we caught the guy, but I want you to hear from Upton as to what happened to her." Jay said.

Sylvie nodded and sat down on the couch in the common room. Hailey sat down beside of her while Peter, Rick, and Jay stepped away to give Hailey time to talk to Sylvie.

"So, I went home the other day and when I went to open the door, the door was opened. I knew right away that someone had broken into it. I opened the door and the place was trashed. I remember I called Voight and he got the guys over to my place. I know what you're feeling right now. I was by myself when it happened, but you had Casey with you. Just remember, you are not alone in this and we got the guy. I made sure of it. I just wanted to check in with you and see how you're doing." Hailey said.

"I've been better. I mean, I'm still sore from the accident and I'm still scared that the creep is gonna come after me somehow, but I'll be fine." Sylvie said.

Hailey took Sylvie's held Sylvie's hand.

"He's gone. He's never gonna see the light of day. He's raped teenagers and young women our age. Once he gets to prison and the inmates find out how he raped those women and then killed them, he's a dead man. He made the mistake of messing with you and me. We have a great support system with our team and I know that we are gonna have to have testify against him at the trial, but we can do it." Hailey explained.

"I know. I'm just scared. I keep having dreams that he's gonna find me or come after me." Sylvie said.

Hailey hugged Sylvie.

"Listen, I know the feeling. I remember when I called Voight about what happened. He immediately had Jay come and stay with me until Voight and the others got there." Hailey explained.

"So, who did you end up staying with?" Sylvie asked.

Hailey laughed.

"I stayed with Burgess but not before Jay begged me to come stay with him. I know he's still hung up on his ex and even though he denies it, it does show. I mean, he can deny it, but when you bring up Lindsay's name, his eyes light up like I have never seen before. I mean, I wouldn't mind going out with him or whatever, but that's one reason I think I've held back from asking Jay out." Hailey said.

"I get it. I mean, Casey is the same way. It used to be that his eyes lit up when Gabby's name was brought up, but not anymore. Even when he told me that he and Gabby had slept together the night that Gabby came back for the gala event that the charity she is helping, he was happy but not like he had been. Heck,  
I think Foster and Stella want Casey and I to get together." Sylvie laughed.

"I know what you mean. Burgess wants Halstead and I to get together, but unless he makes a move or gives me any indication that he wants to go out with me, I won't budge. Alright, so the court will probably ask you to come testify at the trial of Jason Callahan. It's important that we testify. All of his other victims have been murdered and we need to give those women the justice they deserve. Alright?" Hailey said.

"Thanks, Hailey." Sylvie smiled.

Sylvie gave Hailey another hug and then Jay and Hailey left as everyone from 51 were coming back from the call they were on.

"Hey Mills! Newhouse! Let's go play cards like old times!" Kelly yelled as he came back in from the call.

Peter and Rick went out to the garage area where Squad 3 were always hanging out at and started to catch up with each other. As everyone walked into the common room to hang out, Matt motioned for Sylvie to come to his office.

"Hey, how's everything going? I saw Halstead and Upton leaving as we got back." Matt said.

"Uh, yeah. Everything's fine. Upton was telling me how they caught the guy and how scared she was. She was letting me know that I'm not alone in all of this." Sylvie said.

"She's right, you know. You are not alone." Matt said.

"But I am. I am alone and nothing anyone says or do will change that." Sylvie broke down in tears.

She was angry. She was hurting from all the pain, both physically and emotionally, and she was tired. She was crying and it nearly broke Matt in half. He had never seen her this vulnerable. For the longest time, he thought of her as a sister, but that changed when Gabby walked out on him and he had no one but Sylvie to lean on. Sylvie knew exactly what it was like to have someone walk away from her, which made it easy for the two of them to grow closer together than before. Matt was thinking of Sylvie in another way now, unlike before when all he saw her as was like a sister. He pulled Sylvie close to him and held her as she cried.

"It's ok. I'm right here and I'm not going anywhere." Matt whispered as he comforted his friend.

Sylvie hugged him tighter and began to cry even more.

"Thank you." Sylvie whispered as she pulled away from the embrace to gather herself.

Matt wiped tried to wipe the tears from her eyes.

"As your superior, I'm ordering you to go to the bunk room and get some rest. You have barely slept. As your friend, I'm asking you to go get some sleep. We will make sure nothing happens to you. Alright?" Matt calmly said.

Sylvie looked at Matt and looked into his eyes. She knew right away that everything would be alright because he said it, because Matt has never lied to her before and has never let her down.

"Alright." Sylvie replied.

"We still have a long way to go before we are off shift, but I was wondering if you wanted to maybe have another date with me and this time, no Molly's. Just you and me. Maybe dinner and movie. I don't know..." Matt nervously mumbled before Sylvie interupted him.

"I thought you would never ask!" Sylvie excitedly answered.

Matt and Sylvie stood there nervously looking at each other and smiling, not realizing that Emily and Stella were watching from the bunk room. They weren't going to let Sylvie know just yet that they saw the closeness between her and Matt, but they were finally happy to see their girl smile and that the smile lit up her face. Matt and Sylvie made plans and then Sylvie headed to the bunk room to get some much needed rest. Sylvie was hoping that she could go to the bunk room without getting asked a mililon questions, but both Matt and Sylvie knew better than that. Matt could see Emily and Stella in the bunk room and knew that they were gonna question her. He just hoped that they would wait until she got some rest. Either way, he was smiling for the first time in a very long time and it was because of Sylvie.


	10. Chapter 10

Thank you for all the reviews! I am thoroughly enjoying writing this story. I am doing my best to write Sylvie Brett and Matt Casey as a slow burn and I hope you all enjoy it. Please continue to send reviews and comments!

CHAPTER 10

"Spill it! We saw you in Casey's office hugging. What's going on?" Emily questioned.

"There's nothing to spill." Sylvie tried to hide the smile.

"Don't try to hide that smile from us, Sylvie Brett!" Stella teased.

Sylvie was smiling and every few minutes, she would glance up at Matt's office and Matt would flash her his signature smile that made her go weak in the knees.

"See, there you go again! Spill it! What's going on between you two?" Emily pleaded.

"Ok, fine. He asked me out on a date and I said yes. There. Are you happy?" Sylvie laughed.

"I knew it!" Stella exclaimed.

"Shh...geez, I don't want everyone to know just yet. I don't think Casey wants everyone to know either." Sylvie whispered.

"Ok, ok. We won't say anything. So, when is Casey taking you out?" Emily probed.

"Uh, I'm not sure. Probably after shift but he did order me to get some rest. Boden even ordered me to get some rest after everything that's happened, so if you guys don't mind, I'm gonna get some rest before my body literally collapses." Sylvie chuckled.

Stella and Emily noticed that Sylvie looked a bit pale but that might be due to not getting enough rest.

"Get some rest. We'll come check on you later." Stella said as she and Emily left the bunk room.

Several hours passed and Sylvie woke up after finally getting some much needed rest. She headed to the common room where Peter and Rick were there.

"Is that what I think it is?" Sylvie said as she walked into the common room.

"Oh yeah! Blueberry pie." Peter smirked.

"Thank goodness you're cooking. Gallo and Ritter cook the same thing every time it's their turn to cook." Sylvie joked.

Peter and Rick laughed.

"Hey now, my cooking isn't that bad." Gallo smirked.

"Dude, it's bad." Ritter chuckled.

"Mills can cook circle around you guys. Newhouse can too." Kelly said.

"I doubt that." Gallo smirked again.

"Alright. You wanna put your money where your mouth is?" Kelly asked.

"What did you have in mind?" Gallo asked.

"You and Ritter vs. Mills and Newhouse in a cookoff." Kelly said.

"Ok, ok. So, what does the winner get?" Ritter asked.

"Bragging rights. I mean, Mills and Newhouse will be leaving in a few days, so why not let the winners have bragging rights and the right to cook for the house the rest of the week." Kelly answered.

"Alright. Sounds fair enough." Gallo said.

"You guys, Mills and Newhouse better kill it because if I have to eat anything Gallo fixes the next few dies, I might die." Sylvie joked.

Matt overheard Kelly and the others making the bet and had to laugh about it. He walked into the common room and pulled Sylvie aside.

"Hey, so I was wondering if you were still wanting to go on that date with me." Matt said.

"I do. Are you wanting to do it after shift? I'm just making sure we are on the same page. That's all." Sylvie said.

"Absolutely." Matt grinned.

After talking for a minute, Matt headed over to the kitchen counter where Peter, Rick, Ritter, and Gallo were standing and talking.

"So Mills, are you gonna make your mom's famous lasagna?" Matt asked.

"Yeah, are you gonna fix that or do we have to beg?" Sylvie giggled.

"I was planning on it." Peter grinned.

"So Newhouse, what brings you to Chicago?" Matt asked.

"Oh, um, I had to retire from being a firefighter. I broke my leg and they had to put a metal rod in it. Not to mention I threw my back out, so no more firefighting for me. I had to go get a 'real' job, according to my family. So now, I work in an office at the local DMV. Go figure." Rick laughed.

"Who would have thought that Newhouse would ever have a desk job? Huh." Peter said.

"Well, I get to spend more time with my daughter, which is great, but I miss the action. Every now and then, I have to use my cane just to walk. It sucks,  
but what else can you do?" Rick said.

Peter and Rick made dinner for everyone and after Gallo and Ritter tried the lasagna that Peter had made, they gracefully decided to bow out of the cookoff and let Peter and Rick cook for everyone.

"So tell us, why are you both really here? It's not like we don't mind, but what brings you both to Chicago?" Boden asked.

"My job has a conference over at the Civic Center this week and Peter had to meet with a buyer for food supplies, so you guys are stuck with us for a few days, if that's alright." Rick said.

"Either way, we're glad you guys are here." Boden said.

While everyone regaled tales of Peter and Rick when they were at 51, Sylvie snuck away to see Matt in his office.

"Hey Captain, you got a minute?" Sylvie asked.

"Sure but are you asking as your Captain or as a friend?" Matt questioned.

"As a friend." Sylvie answered.

"Sure. What's up?" Matt asked.

"For our date, do you think it would be alright if we go back to my apartment to maybe try and clean the place up a bit." Sylvie said.

"How does Cruz feel about it?" Matt asked.

"I talked to him and he had Chloe clean up his room and some of the apartment but it's still trashed and I just wanna get back home." Sylvie explained.

"That's fine with me. We can order pizza or I could could for you." Matt teased.

"Captain Casey, I'll take you up on the cooking." Sylvie grinned.

Matt flashed a smile and headed to the bunk room to sleep the rest of the shift. Sylvie's body was taking a toll on her from everything. Hours went by and it was time for second shift to get off work.

"You ready?" Matt asked.

"Yeah." Sylvie grinned.

They headed to Sylvie's apartment. After they parked the car and walked into the building, they went up to the floor where Sylvie's apartment was. Sylvie opened the door and saw that most of the mess had been cleaned, thanks to Chloe.

"Chloe is a life saver." Sylvie smiled as she looked around.

"There's not much left to clean up. How's your room look?" Matt asked.

"A mess." Sylvie answered.

"Well, let's get started cleaning it. The sooner we get it cleaned, the sooner we can have the rest of the day to do whatever." Matt teased.

They began cleaning Sylvie's bedroom and after they finished, they took a break in the living room.

"So, what do you want to eat?" Matt asked.

"Hmm...I was thinking a pizza for now and you can cook dinner for me later." Sylvie suggested.

"Not a problem." Matt replied.

Matt called in an order for two pepperoni and cheese pizzas and then sat down on the couch beside of Sylvie.

"So, what was life in Fowlerton like before Chicago?" Matt asked.

"That depends. Which time?" Sylvie asked.

Matt stopped and realized what he had asked.

"Which ever one you want to tell me about. It's up to you." Matt said.

"Before I moved here the first time, life in Fowlerton was alright. As you know, I had been engaged before I moved here and I ended up getting stood up at the alter. For me, that was the best thing that could have ever happened to me because it opened my eyes to everything that I didn't want. Harrison and I were high school sweethearts but when he showed up here in Chicago, I realized that he was controlling and that was something I didn't want. Nothing in my life was easy. I grew up in the system and it sucked. I was one of the lucky ones who got adopted. Not everyone in foster care gets adopted. Then, there was the second time. Kyle wanted me to be a housewife and although I cared for him, I wasn't in love with him. I wasn't ready to give up my career to be a stay at home housewife who stays at home all day. I like to work. Kyle understood that and there was no bad blood between us." Sylvie explained.

"How did you end up in the system, if you don't mind me asking." Matt asked.

"My biological parents died in a car accident when I was two months old. I got placed in the system until I was about six or seven." Sylvie answered.

Matt gave her a look.

"I know that look. What's on your mind, Casey?" Sylvie asked.

"It's nothing." Matt replied.

Sylvie gave him a look.

"My mom killed my dad when I was a teenager. My sister and I had a falling out after I was the reason that my mom was able to get out of jail. It's not something I like talking about." Matt said.

"You can talk about it with me whenever you want. No judgement." Sylvie softly said.

Matt knew that Sylvie was being sincere. He appreciated it. It was something that he loved about her. Before Matt could say anything, there was a knock on the door. Matt answered the door and paid the delivery man for the pizza. Sylvie went to get up but Matt stopped her.

"What are you doing?" Matt asked.

"I was gonna get some plates and cups." Sylvie said as she stood up.

"You sit. I'll get the plates and the cups. Just save a slice of pizza for me." Matt joked as he handed Sylvie the boxes of pizza.

Sylvie took the boxes and placed them on the new coffee table that Chloe had given them to replace the one that was destroyed in the accident. Matt walked over to the kitchen, grabbed two plates and two cups, and then walked over to the couch and sat beside of Sylvie.

"I need you to know something. You remember the day Gabby left and I was a mess. Then, the fire at my apartment happened and I had to move in with Severide.  
I don't know. I was lost." Matt explained.

"I remember. You weren't in the best place at the time. I remember being at Molly's and you leaving with random women. It was pretty bad." Sylvie said.

"I loved Gabby, I did, but I realized after she left that she wasn't comingback. Then when she came back, I felt every single emotion that I had when she left. For that moment, I forgot everything but then when I was laying in the bed after being with her, I realized that I could never be with her again. Don't get me wrong, I'll always love Gabby, but I realized that I'm not in love with her." Matt explained.

Sylvie gave him a look of relief.

"You didn't have to tell me that, but I'm glad you did." Sylvie softly said.

"If we are being honest, when you were with Antonio, I was a little jealous. Heck, when you and Cruz were together back when you first came to 51, I was jealous, but I didn't know if it was because I had feelings for you or if I was just trying to hide the fact that I was attracted to you. I loved Gabby but you saw how things were between us. One minute she wanted to be my wife and be with me, the next, she was making plans to leave me and then when a spot on Truck became available, we had to pretend that we weren't dating, which led to us actually breaking up. I guess you could say that we loved each other but the whole relationship was toxic. She couldn't make up her mind about what she wanted and I was partly to blame because I didn't want the same things and then when I did, it was too late" Matt explained.

"Hey, I'm glad you're telling me this." Sylvie whispered.

Matt looked at Sylvie, who gave him a small grin. Sylvie didn't really want to hear the details of his relationship with Gabby, but at the same time, she knew that she had too in order for him to move on and for them to see what they have together, if there was anything between them.

"You know, I remember when you and Borelli were out on a call and you witnessed someone being murdered and the guy taking your ID. This incident sort of reminded me of that day. I remember seeing the look in your eyes and how scared you were. The other day, I saw that same look and I didn't know what to do or what to say." Matt said.

Sylvie rubbed his arm.

"I hadn't thought about that day in a while until the other day." Sylvie said.

"Growing up, it wasn't easy for me. My sister, Christie, is older than me and I love her to death, but our relationship was strained when our mom killed our dad fifteen years ago. If you haven't noticed, there's an unspoken rule that no one is to ask me about my family or bring it up. It's a very touchy subject and if I want someone to know, I'll tell them." Matt explained.

Sylvie gave Matt a sympathetic look.

"I'm glad you are telling me. I promise I won't say anything unless you say it's ok." Sylvie whispered.

"I trust you. There's something that you may not know about me. Before Gabby, I was engaged to a doctor. Her name was Hallie Thomas. She was murdered because she found out about a drug ring that was going on in the clinic she was working at. Then, Gabby and I got together." Matt said.

Sylvie wanted to cry. Her heart broke for Matt. She thought she had a rough life, but Matt seemed to have had it worse growing up than she did.

"I'm sorry." Sylvie mustered.

She wasn't sure what to do or say, but he didn't care. The fact that he had someone to talk to made him feel better. There was something about Sylvie that allowed himself to open up to her in a way he couldn't with anyone else and he was so thankful for that. As they got to know each other more, hours had passed by and before they knew it, it was already starting to get dark outside. This had been a good day for the both of them, even after all the horrible things that have happened lately.


	11. Chapter 11

Thank you all for the continued reviews. Please continue to leave reviews and comments and I hope you enjoy this chapter!

CHAPTER 11

"So, what do you want for dinner?" Matt asked Sylvie.

"Surprise me." Sylvie joked.

"Maybe I will." Matt teased.

They continued to flirt and joke around until they heard the door open. For a minute, Sylvie jumped, scared that it was someone breaking into her apartment, but quickly realized it was Joe and Chloe.

"Hey guys, sorry to scare you." Joe said as he and Chloe walked in.

"Hey Sylvie, how are you?" Chloe asked.

"I'm doing much better since the accident." Sylvie smiled.

"That's good to hear." Chloe smiled.

Chloe then noticed Matt was sitting beside of Sylvie.

"Hey, Matt!" Chloe said.

"Hey, Chloe!" Matt replied.

"I hope you don't mind, but Joe was wanting to do a stay at home dinner here tonight since he's never here anymore." Chloe said.

"Oh, that's fine. We were just getting ready to leave and go out." Sylvie lied.

Sylvie and Matt got up and were heading

"Hey, Sylvie!" Joe yelled.

Sylvie stopped and turned around to see what Joe wanted. Joe quickly walked over to her.

"Um, is it alright if Chloe stays here tonight?" Joe asked.

"Uh, yeah. Of course." Sylvie said.

Joe looked nervous.

"Um, no. I mean..." Joe said.

"Oh, uh, just let me grab a few things and I'll go stay at a hotel." Sylvie said.

With that, Sylvie told Matt what was going on and they kind of chuckled about it. Sylvie grabbed a bag of clothes and headed out the door with Matt.

"Sorry about that. Guess Joe misses the place." Sylvie nervously chuckled.

"No need to apologize. So, where are you gonna stay?" Matt asked.

"I might stay with Stella or Emily, but I'd hate to give them such a short notice." Sylvie mulled.

"Why don't you just stay with me at Severide's?" Matt suggested.

"Severide's? Uh, I'll pass." Sylvie nervously replied.

They both chuckled at the thought.

"Yeah, I guess you're right. So, um, where are you gonna stay?" Matt asked.

"I could stay at the new hotel they built near 51." Sylvie said.

"We'll figure something out. It's 6:00 and I'm starving." Matt joked.

"Sure. So, what's for dinner?" Sylvie grinned.

"You pick." Matt said.

"Hmm...why don't we get some BBQ?" Sylvie grinned.

"Where at?" Matt asked.

"You know, I do love Applebee's." Sylvie giggled.

Matt chuckled with a smile.

"I know you do. You literally got defensive when Capp tried to eat those leftover ribs you brought." Matt laughed.

Sylvie playfully hit him.

"Hey, Applebee's has some great ribs and I will fight to the death to save the leftovers." Sylvie joked.

"I feel the same way about their wings." Matt laughed.

The two of them got in Matt's truck and headed to the nearest Applebee's, which was just down the street a few blocks away.

"So, do you want take out or do you wanna eat inside?" Matt asked.

"Let's get it to go. We can eat at the hotel." Sylvie grinned.

Matt already knew what Sylvie wanted and after he placed the order and paid for it, he went back to his truck and got in.

"They said it would be about fifteen to twenty minutes." Matt replied.

"So, I was hoping you could give me a ride to work tomorrow." Sylvie nervously said.

"Of course. You don't even have to ask." Matt said.

The waitress came out to Matt's truck, handed Matt the bag of food, and then went back inside. After checking to make sure they weren't missing any of the food that was ordered, Matt headed to the new hotel near the firehouse.

"Welcome to the Kensington Hotel. My name is Ryan. How can I help you?" Ryan asked.

"Yes, I was wondering if I could get a room for the night." Sylvie asked.

Ryan checked the computer for any vacancies that the hotel might have.

"Ah, yes. The only room that is available is the honeymoon suite. There's a conference here in Chicago and so we have nearly maxed out our capacity." Ryan explained.

"Uh, that's fine with me." Sylvie smiled.

Ryan listed the price and Sylvie paid for the room after saying that she only needed a room for one person.

"Check out time is noon sharp. You may check out at anytime before then, however, if you fail to do so, you will be charged for another night." Ryan said.

"Thank you so much." Sylvie answered.

Ryan handed Sylvie the key to her room.

"It's room 600 on the Sixth Floor. You may use the elevators that are right over there. Enjoy your stay here at Kensington Hotel." Ryan nicely replied.

With that, Sylvie and Matt headed upstairs to the room. After getting off the elevators, they found the room and Sylvie opened it.

"Oh my..." Sylvie trailed off as she was speechless.

"Wow." Matt said as he was speechless.

The room had a large king size bed that sat close to the window. There was a nightstand with a lamp that sat beside of the bed on one side and a sitting chair that sat beside the bed and window. There was a desk with a chair that was placed against the opposite wall of the bed. The room was huge. Sylvie still couldn't get over the size of the room.

"You have to check out the bathroom, Casey. It's huge!" Sylvie exclaimed.

Matt walked over to see what the big deal was and he was shocked.

"You could have a freaking party in here." Matt joked.

The bathroom had a huge Jacuzzi bathtub big enough for two people and a small walk in shower with sliding doors. There was a his and her sink as well.

"I think our party is much better." Sylvie teased.

"I agree." Matt grinned.

"Alright, the smell of the food is getting to me." Sylvie giggled.

They walked over and placed the food on the desk. Matt took out an order of ribs and honey BBQ wings for Sylvie and took out the order of buffalo wings with ranch dressing for himself.

"Is there a fork in there?" Sylvie asked.

"Uh, yeah. Here you go." Matt said as he handed Sylvie a plastic fork that was in the bag.

Sylvie took the plastic off of the fork and then began to eat. Matt did the same. Sylvie was sitting on the bed and Matt was sitting in the desk chair.

"Sorry that this isn't the greatest date." Sylvie apologized.

Matt looked up from his food and gave her a concerned look.

"I thought this date was going really well. Why? Are you not enjoying it?" Matt asked.

Sylvie gave him a look of confusion and then smiled.

"No, nothing like that. I'm having fun. I just thought that since I had to come here, you wouldn't wanna..." Sylvie trailed off before being interupted by Matt.

"Hey, I'm enjoying this. We don't have to have a perfect date. As long as we both are having fun and liking each other's company, that's all we need...at least for me." Matt said.

Sylvie smiled.

"You're right. We don't have to have a perfect date to have fun." Sylvie replied.

They both giggled over the conversation and continued to eat their food. After they were finish eating, Sylvie put her leftovers in the bag and put them in the refrigerator. Matt had eaten all of his food and threw away the empty to go box that the food was in. The turned on the TV and saw that the movie, Top Gun, was on.

"I haven't seen this movie in years." Sylvie's face lit up.

"Neither have I." Matt smiled.

They agreed to watch it and during the middle of the movie, they started acting out scenes by quoting the movie. As they quoted the movie, Sylvie grabbed a pillow and threw it at Matt jokingly.

"Did you really just do that?" Matt asked.

Sylvie couldn't contain her laugh.

"Yep!" she laughed.

"Alright." Matt said as he threw the pillow back at Sylvie.

Sylvie caught the pillow and looked shocked.

"Oh, it's on." Sylvie giggled.

She threw the pillow back at Matt and he stood up and started tickling her. They both were laughing so hard that Sylvie finally caved.

"I give up! I gotta pee!" Sylvie laughed.

Matt let her up and she went to use the bathroom. She came out after a few minutes and they both started laughing some more and Matt began to tickle her again. They fell onto the bed with Matt on top of Sylvie. They looked at each other and Matt leaned in and kissed Sylvie. She returned his kisses. The kiss was slow and passionate. As much as she really wanted to be with him, she couldn't. At least, not yet. They pulled away and Matt smiled at her. He was getting ready to leave when Sylvie stopped him.

"Don't go. After the last few weeks, I need some sleep and..." Sylvie trailed off.

Matt could tell that she was still scared, even after everything.

"Can you just stay until I fall asleep?" Sylvie asked.

Matt looked at her and put his coat back on the chair.

"Absolutely. I'll sit over in that chair. Ok." Matt said.

Sylvie nodded and went to the bathroom to change into her pajamas. It was hard for Matt to see Sylvie scared. She was always the strong and tough one at 51 and was literally the only one that could keep the whole house together when everyone wanted to fall apart. Now, she was the one falling apart and they had to be there for her now. She came out of the bathroom wearing a pair of black pajama bottoms and a grey tank top. Matt was sitting in the chair near the window and he had to catch his breath for a minute as he looked at Sylvie. Sylvie crawled into the bed and laid down, watching whatever was on TV. After a few minutes, she sat up and Matt noticed.

"Thank you for everything. These last few weeks have been crazy." Sylvie said.

"You don't need to thank me." Matt said.

"But I do. If you hadn't been there for me, I don't know what I would have done." Sylvie explained.

"That's what any friend would have done." Matt smiled.

"But you're not just any friend." Sylvie replied.

"No, I'm just the friend who enjoys spending time with you. I'm the friend who hates not being near you. I'm the friend who would like us to be more." Matt nervously told Sylvie.

Sylvie's face turned red. She had been waiting months to hear him say something like that. She couldn't hold in the smile anymore. Her face lit up and a big huge smile crossed her face.

"You want us to be more than friends?" Sylvie asked, making sure that she heard Matt the first time.

"Yes, I do." Matt said.

"As much as I would like that, and I really would like that, I feel like I would be betraying Gabby. She's one of my best friends and you and her have a history that is hard to move on from..." Sylvie told Matt but was interupted.

"I know. I know, but she chose to leave me and she is the one who chose to end our marriage. I should have seen it sooner. When I wanted to marry her and she said that she was happy the way things were, that should have been my hint that she didn't want to marry me. Then when the adoption with Louie came and it fell through, she wanted to try for a baby. When I suggested adoption, she refused to even give that a thought and little by little, we drifted apart. To be honest, I never really wanted to run for Alderman. I only did it because Gabby wanted me too, but she went and made decisions about us behind my back. You watched me fall into a depression of darkness. I took it out on everyone, including you, but you still chose to be there for me. Don't get me wrong, a part of me will always love and care for Gabby, but not in the way that I want to be loved by someone. You have to admit, we have been playing this cat and mouse game for a long time." Matt chuckled.

Sylvie listened to him and heard what he was saying.

"I want the same thing but I'm also afraid that if Gabby comes back again, like she did the last time, you will completely fall back into that trap and that is what it is. It's a trap. I love Gabby to death, but she wants to have her cake and eat it too and if she comes back, you can't go running to her just because she says jump because I won't put up with that. I've been hurt too many times, especially by Antonio, and I won't go through that again. I'm willing to give us a chance, but this is the only time I am going to say this and I need you to listen to me and not jump to conclusions, ok." Sylvie explained.

Matt nodded his head.

"Ok." Matt said.

"Like I said, I'm only going to say this once. If Gabby comes back and you go running to her for whatever reason, I will leave and I won't give us a second thought. I started to fall hard for Antonio and we had agreed to keep things casual, but when he said that he was dating someone else and that he didn't want to see me anymore, that hurt more than I can ever say. I've been through a lot, things that a lot of people don't know about, but I can't have you running to Gabby every time she comes home and says she misses you or she made a mistake and wants to work things out. I can't go through that. I just can't. Being raised in a foster home was not fun. I would get placed with a family who wanted me one minute but the minute I got sick or needed something, they would send me back to the system. When my parents finally took me in, I felt loved for the first time in my life. They asked if they could adopt me and I agreed. It was the best decision I have ever made and I have never regretted it. I take relationships seriously. If you go running to her because she calls, don't expect me to wait for you to make your choice because I won't be here." Sylvie teared up.

Matt could see that it pained Sylvie to say that but he knew she had too.

"You and I weren't together the last time she came back. I know you wanted me to see how things would go with Gabby because if I didn't go, then I would have regretted it, and you were right, but I also left her in the middle of the night when she was sleeping. I was laying in bed and all I could think about was how much she hurt me. I thought about the pain that I felt when she left and it made me realize that while I will always have a special place for her in my heart, I can't keep going back to her. You were the one who got me through the hardest part when she left. In a way, I feel responsible for you leaving with Kyle. If I hadn't insisted that you and him start dating, then you never would have left us. You never would have left me. It wasn't until you left all of us that I realized how wrong I was for pushing you to go out with Kyle. When you came back home, all I could think about was how I didn't want you to leave us,  
to leave me, again." Matt explained.

"If we do this, we have to take things slow. I can't rush into anything." Sylvie told Matt.

Matt agreed.

"Still want me to stay until you fall asleep?" Matt asked.

"Yes, unless you want to go home." Sylvie said.

"I'm right where I want to be." Matt smiled.

Sylvie smiled back and laid back down. It didn't take long for her to fall asleep. Matt fell asleep shortly after Sylvie and after setting an alarm on his phone for the next morning.


	12. Chapter 12

Thank you all for your comments and reviews! I'm almost finished with this story. I also have another story called, Love To Burn, if you all would like to read that and comment on that one as well. I hope you all continue to comment and leave reviews on this story and I hope you enjoy this chapter!

CHAPTER 12

The next morning, Sylvie woke before the alarm went off. She saw that Matt was asleep in the chair and smiled. He must have fallen asleep after she did because the last thing she remembers was seeing him wide awake sitting in the chair. She quickly changed into her work clothes and then carefully but gently nudged Matt.

"Hmm." Matt moaned.

"Hey Casey, it's time to get up." Sylvie whispered.

Matt stirred and then opened his eyes. He looked around and saw that he was looking at Sylvie.

"Good morning." Matt grinned.

"Good morning." Sylvie smiled back.

"Sorry I fell asleep." Matt yawned.

"No need to apologize but it's time to get up and get ready. Shift starts in an hour." Sylvie said.

Matt got up and grabbed a quick shower. He didn't have a change of clothes, so he had to wear the same clothes from yesterday. After Matt got dressed, he and Sylvie headed out of the room to check out. Matt went to bring the car around while Sylvie checked out. Once she did that, she headed outside and got in Matt's truck and they headed to the firehouse. They arrived and headed to the locker room. Sylvie met Stella and Emily in the women's bathroom, while Matt went to the men's bathroom.

"Where were you last night?" Kelly teased as Matt walked in.

"Mind your business." Matt scolded with a smile.

"Touchy, touchy." Kelly chuckled.

Matt chuckled.

"So, where were you?" Kelly asked.

"I stayed with Brett at the new hotel by the firehouse and before you ask or give me a look, nothing happened." Matt answered.

Kelly didn't argue and knew to drop the subject.

"Casey spent the night?!" Stella smiled.

"Shh...not so loud." Sylvie said.

"What I don't get is why did Cruz kick you out of the apartment for when he could have stayed at Chloe's." Emily said.

"I don't know. I mean, I get that Cruz wanted to spend time with Chloe, but he shouldn't have suggested that I get out of the apartment." Sylvie complained.

They walked out of the bathroom and into the locker room. Stella looked around and didn't see anyone.

"I just think that after all you have been through, Cruz should have been a little more respectful than asking you to leave the apartment for the night. I'm just saying. If he wanted to have some alone time with Chloe, he should have either stayed at Chloe's or they should have closed his bedroom door at the apartment." Stella firmly said.

None of the women knew that Joe was listening in on the conversation.

"You guys, I care for Joe and I'm happy for him and Chloe, but ever since I have came back home, Joe hasn't really been at the apartment. I've had to stare at the walls by myself day in and day out. I think part of the reason he stays gone is because of Otis. You guys, I'm not mad at him for having Chloe over, I'm not. I'm mad about the fact that my car is totaled, I'm still trying to heal from the bruises I got with the concussion I suffered, and that I have barely slept." Sylvie explained.

After hearing what Sylvie said, Joe felt a little guilty. He didn't realize that Sylvie wasn't sleeping that well and that she was taking things as hard as he was, especially with Otis. He waited a few more minutes before faking a phone call to make his presence known.

"Alright. Thank you. I'll talk to you soon." Joe said.

"Joe, you overheard us, didn't you?" sylvie said.

"Uh, yeah." Joe admitted.

"Listen, I'm sorry if I sound..." Sylvie said before being interupted.

"It's ok. I should have thought about your feelings first. I should have realized what happened to you was something that you can't just get over. Chloe and I have been working on planning the wedding and we have been really busy that I wasn't thinking. I'm sorry if I put you out." Joe sincerely apologized.

"Joe, it's ok. I'm fine. I promise. Let's just move on. Alright?" Sylvie smiled.

Joe returned the smile.

"Deal." Joe said as he gave Sylvie a hug.

Sylvie returned his hug and then headed to the common room. Matt came into the locker room and changed into his spare work clothes that he had in his locker and then headed to the common room where the others were.

"So, I was thinking we could do a girl's night tomorrow after shift." Stella said.

"I'm in." Emily said.

"Me too." Sylvie answered.

Matt looked over at Sylvie and grinned. She returned his grin.

"You know, I haven't had a girl's night in forever." Emily said.

"So, what's the plan?" Stella said.

"Why don't we have it at my place? I mean, I'm sure Joe wouldn't mind and if Chloe comes over, she can join us if she wants." Sylvie suggested.

"Sound good to me." Emily quipped.

"Me too. What do you say I get the pizza and beer and Foster can bring the face masks and makeup." Stella said.

"AMBULANCE 61. CARDIAC ARREST 3224 CANFIELD ROAD." the dispatcher said over the intercom.

"Let's go!" Stella yelled to Emily.

Stella and Emily ran to the ambulance.

"I hate not being able to go on calls." Sylvie complained.

"I know the feeling. Remember when I couldn't go on them?" Peter said.

"Yeah, I remember." Sylvie sulked.

"But in the end, I got cleared and you will too. Ritter's conference ended earlier than expected so we are heading back home the day after tomorrow." Peter explained.

"That sucks, but it was great seeing you both. I thought you guys weren't leaving until the weekend. We should definitely have a night out to celebrate with you guys being home even for a few days." Sylvie said.

"So, Ritter just text me to say that the conference ended earlier than expected and his daughter, Naomi, needs him home for a family emergency or something.  
He wants to leave tomorrow night. By the way, didn't we do that at Molly's the other night?" Peter laughed.

"We did but this will be a going away party for you and Ritter, since we didn't really get to do one with him and we could do it tonight after shift if you guys want." Sylvie joked.

"Did you guys do one for me?" Peter asked.

"You know, I don't think we did or we did and I forgot." Sylvie laughed.

"Still, I think it would be nice and the best part is that we get to see everyone before we leave." Peter said.

"Yeah, that's true." Sylvie smiled.

"Hey Mills, do you know what time Ritter gets out of that conference?" Kelly said as he walked into the common room.

"Uh, I think around 3 or so." Peter said.

"Thanks." Kelly said as he walked back out of the common room.

Peter and Sylvie laughed.

"Mills, can I see you in my office?" Boden asked.

"Sure." Peter said as he headed to Boden's office.

Sylvie was restless. She wanted to return to work. It was a nightmare watching her friends go out on calls while she stayed back.

"Brett, could you come here please?" Boden said.

Sylvie got up and headed to Boden's office where Peter was also waiting.

"I need you to do me a favor." Boden said as he looked at Sylvie.

"Sure, Chief. What's up?" Sylvie asked

"Donna called and was wondering if someone from the house could go talk to her students about fire safety and EMS training. Her students are teenagers and she has some students who want to become firefighters and first responders. Would you and Mills be willing to go talk to them about the dangers of the job and what your experiences have been like, thus far?" Boden asked.

"Sure." Sylvie said.

Peter nodded.

"I need you both to be at Donna's school around 1:00." Boden said.

"Hey Chief, is her school the same one that we responded to when the chem lab caught on fire?" Sylvie asked.

"Yeah, that's the one." Boden replied.

"Alright. No problem." Sylvie answered.

"This is normally something we do for children, not teens." Peter chimed in.

"These are teenagers who are seniors and are thinking about going into our line of work. Donna wants them to have a better understanding as to what they would be getting into." Boden explained.

"Sounds great. Brett and I will be there." Peter said.

With that, the two of them left Chief Boden's office.

"Hey Mills, I'll catch up with you in a minute." Sylvie smiled.

Peter headed back to the common room while Sylvie stopped at Matt's office.

"Can I come in, Captain?" Sylvie asked.

Matt was sitting at his desk.

"Always." Matt replied.

Sylvie closed the door behind her.

"So, Chief wants Mills and I to go speak at Donna's school. He said that they are seniors and that some of them are wanting to do our line of work." Sylvie said.

"Well that's good." Matt smiled.

"Yeah. I'm kind of excited about it." Sylvie smiled.

"That's great. I'm happy for you." Matt smiled.

"You know, last night was the first time in a while that I have actually slept well. I think it was because you were there." Sylvie said.

"You looked relaxed for the first time in weeks." Matt said.

"I think it's because you were with me." Sylvie smiled.

Matt grinned.

"Hey, uh, I was thinking that maybe all of us could throw Mills and Ritter a goodbye party since they are leaving the day after tomorrow and since we didn't really give them one the last time they were here, I figured why not give them one this time." Sylvie said.

"I think it's a great idea but you know what's even better?" Matt asked.

Sylvie shook her head. Matt got up, lowered the blinds, and pulled her close to him.

"This is better than anything." Matt teased with a low voice.

The sound of his voice made Sylvie go weak in the knees. He pulled her into a passionate kiss, which she returned with just as much passion.

"Hmm...what was that for?" Sylvie asked after she pulled away from the kiss.

"For being there for me through my darkest hours when I thought I couldn't go on." Matt said.

Sylvie wrapped her arms around Matt's neck.

"Seeing you like that was hard. You snapped at everyone over everything. You even snapped at me when I asked you for a signature." Sylvie giggled.

"Yeah but then you made me go to Molly's and when I got so drunk I couldn't stand up, you brought me home to Kelly's and literally babysat me." Matt laughed.

"Someone had too. Kelly was too drunk and Stella was taking care of him at her place." Sylvie chuckled.

"Well, you were a very good babysitter. I had no complaints." Matt chuckled.

Matt leaned in and kissed Sylvie again and then pulled away.

"So, Stella and Foster want to do a girl's night with me at my place. I think we planned it for tomorrow night but since Mills and Ritter are going back home, we might plan it for this weekend. I'm not sure yet." Sylvie said.

"Well, I want to spend as much time with you as I can but Kelly said something about having a guy's night out, so it kind of works out." Matt teased.

"Just think, you could always come over after." Sylvie teased.

"Hmm...that's actually a good idea." Matt said.

"Well, we'll see what the night holds." Sylvie teased.

Just as Matt went to kiss Sylvie again, he and the rest of Truck 81 got called out on a fire. He quickly kissed her before leaving on the call. Lucky for Sylvie, Emily and Stella were in the common room waiting on her.

"Hey Brett, so what time did you want us to come over?" Stella asked.

"About that. I was thinking we could do it this weekend since Peter and Ritter are leaving. Ritter sent Mill's a text saying that the conference ended early and that his daughter needs him home for a family emergency or something and I was hoping that we could all get together at Molly's to have a going away party for them since I don't recall one for Peter and we didn't have one for Ritter." Sylvie explained.

"That sounds good to me. You know I'm always up for a Molly's party." Stella joked.

"Count me in on that, too." Emily said.

The women talked for a bit until Peter came to get Sylvie.

"Hey Brett, you ready to go? Donna is expecting us soon." Peter said.

"Uh, yeah. See you guys later." Sylvie said as she headed out the door with Peter.

Stella gave Emily a look.

"You think Brett and that Mills guy have something going on?" Stella asked.

Emily laughed.

"No. I mean, he's good looking but Brett has a thing for Casey. She wouldn't hurt Casey like that." Emily said.

It didn't take long for Matt and the rest of Truck 81 to come back from the call.

"Hey guys, have you seen Brett?" Matt asked as he walked into the common room.

"Uh, she and that Mills guy were going to Donna's school." Stella answered.

"Oh yeah, that's right. Thanks." Matt said as he was heading to his office.

"Hey Casey, what's going on?" Stella asked.

Matt stopped and turned around and walked back over to where Stella and Emily were sitting.

"Oh, Chief Boden wanted Brett and Mills to speak at Donna's school about being a firefighter and paramedic since her students are seniors and some are considering going into this field. That's all." Matt explained.

"And why didn't Boden ask one of us?" Emily quipped.

"I don't know. Maybe because Mills can talk to them about the problems he had from being a firefighter. You know, like how he developed a type of vertigo and couldn't work as a firefighter because of it and since he was a licensed paramedic, he helped Brett. Also, Brett is on light duty, so there's that." Matt explained.

Stella and Emily let out a small laugh.

"Thanks, Casey." Stella said as Matt went to his office.

While Emily and Stella talked, Peter and Sylvie arrived at Donna's school to talk to Donna's students. Sylvie was excited. She actually loved her job and enjoyed it. Peter and Sylvie walked into the school and signed in at the office as visitors and then were given directions to Donna's classroom, where they headed to speak to the students.


	13. Chapter 13

Thank you all for the reviews and comments. This story is almost finished and I thank you all for leaving reviews and comments. I really hope you all have enjoyed this story so far. Please continue to leave reviews and comments! I also noticed that I had made a mistake in saying Ritter instead of Newhouse, when talking about the going away party. I was watching Season 8 on Hulu when I wrote these last few chapters, so if you have noticed that I mention Mills and Ritter leaving, I simply meant Mills and Newhouse. I've tried to correct the mistakes, but I just wanted to give you all a heads up on that tiny mistake. LOL. Also, the next chapter will be the last chapter of the story.

CHAPTER 13

Sylvie and Peter were in Donna's classroom at the high school she worked at, talking to the students.

"My name is Sylvie and I am the PIC, or Paramedic In Charge, at Firehouse 51." Sylvie said.

"And I am Peter Mills, former firefighter of Squad 3." Peter said.

One of the students raises her hands.

"My name is Anna. What is the difference between Squad and Truck?" Anna asked.

"Squad Companies are basically the rescue companies. We go in and use specialized equipment that help us with forceable entry, search, and ventilation. There is a lieutenant that is basically our commander. That person tells us what needs he or she needs us to do during a call once we arrive on scene. Squad also carries lines such as stretching lines or hand lines. There's usually about three to four members per Squad, give or take how big the department is. Now Truck is a bit different. Truck can perform any immediate rescues that Squad can't. Truck can also ventilate and they have ladders for access. Truck is just as important as Squad. Truck is also capable of search and rescue, forceable entry, things like that. In essence, both Squad and Truck are very similar but the tools that Squad uses can differ from the tools that Truck uses, if that makes any sense." Peter explained to the best of his ability.

Another student raises their hand to ask a question.

"My name is Maria and I was thinking about becoming a paramedic. How long does it take to become a paramedic and have you ever been in dangerous situations before?" Maria asked Sylvie.

"For me personally, I have had eighteen months of paramedic training. To become a paramedic, you must have several requirements such as having a current National Registry Certification or state license, you have to complete an accredited paramedic education program, and I know that I have to take a refresher course every two years or so to stay certified. Keep in mind that each state, county, and city could have different requirements, but those are just some of the things that I had to do to become a paramedic. As for being in dangerous situations, yes I have been in those situations before. Each call you get can lead to a dangerous situation. There was a call that my partner and I got called out to and it was a gunshot wound to the patient. My partner went to the ambulance to get something and there was a man who approached me with a gun. As a first responder, be it a firefighter or paramedic, there's danger all around you. There are always two paramedics per ambulance. You may need to lift a patient and if you are by yourself, it makes things hard. My advice to any of you who are thinking about becoming a firefighter or paramedic is to make sure you have the proper training and to follow the rules. I know as a paramedic, you have to make decisions in a split second. If a woman is pregnant and is in labor, you have to access the situation and see if you can make it to the nearest hospital. If not, you have to call for a back up ambulance immediately and deliver the baby in the ambulance. There's a PIC, which is the paramedic in charge, who has the final decision. If you are working with me as my partner and I say do something, you do it. You might question me, but the decision ultimately falls back on me as I am in charge." Sylvie explained to the best of her ability.

Sylvie and Peter both relied on their experiences to explain things as best as they could.

"Why are you no longer a firefighter?" one girl asked.

"I am no longer a firefighter for several reasons, some of which are medical reasons. I can still be a paramedic but I made the decision to step down from being a firefighter to help my mom and sister with a restaurant that we own in North Carolina. One of the things I forgot to tell you all is that when you are a probie or candidate for a firehouse, you tend to get stuck doing "chores" or things that veteran firefighters don't do. You have to learn to cook for a whole firehouse, which includes the firefighters, paramedics, and anyone who works at the firehouse. You have to learn how to clean the trucks and do drills. The Academy teaches and trains you on what you are supposed to do when there is a fire, but for me, I learned from the people I worked with because I had to trust them. I had to learn from them." Peter said.

After they talked to the class, Donna thanked Sylvie and Peter before they left. When they arrived back at 51, everyone was out on a call. Sylvie was glad to be back. The students literally wanted to know every single thing that goes on and Donna suggested that they do a tour of the firehouse and maybe observe a call or something. That was something that Donna would have to work out with her husband, Chief Boden. As Peter walked to the common room, Sylvie walked to the bunk room to rest. Her body was telling her to rest. As Matt returned from his call, Peter said that Sylvie went to rest. Matt walked into the bunk room and saw Sylvie curled up with her hand holding her head as if her head were hurting.

"Hey, are you ok?" Matt asked in a low voice.

"My head is killing me and the lights don't help much." Sylvie said as she continued to lay there with her hand holdin her head.

"Go to my office, close the blinds and turn the light off." Matt suggested.

Sylvie went to stand up and passed out in Matt's arms. Matt yelled for help.

"Foster! Kidd! I need some help in here!" Matt yelled.

Emily and Stella rushed in to see what was going on.

"What happened?" Stella asked.

"She was telling me her head was killing her and the lights didn't help much and when I suggested she go into my office to try to rest, she went to get up and passed out." Matt described.

Emily checked Sylvie's pulse.

"Her pulse is weak. We gotta get her to Med!" Emily exclaimed.

Matt carried Sylvie to the ambulance and gently placed her on the gurney. Stella and Emily rushed Sylvie to Med, while Matt went to find Chief Boden.

"Chief! It's Brett! She passed out. Stella and Foster are taking her to Med but her pulse is weak." Matt explained.

"Go to Med and see what's going on. I'll cover you if Truck gets called out." Boden said.

Matt rushed out to his truck and headed to Chicago Med to see how Sylvie is doing. When he got there, he saw Stella and Emily standing in the waiting room pacing back and forth.

"What happened?" Matt asked.

"It's Brett's blood pressure. It bottomed out on our way here. The doctors are in with her right now. They think it might be a blood cot or something but they aren't sure what it is until they examine her and get a CT scan and an MRI." Emily said.

Dr. Will Halstead came out of Sylvie's ER room.

"Will, what's going on?" Matt asked.

"The scans didn't show any signs of bleeding or anything serious, which is the good news. We are running some tests to find out what caused her to pass out and for her blood pressure to bottom out, but it could be caused from not eating or taking medications. We're gonna wait and see what the tests shows." Will explained.

"Thanks." Matt said as he, Emily, and Stella waited in the waiting room.

"AMBULANCE 61. POSSIBLE CARDIAC ARREST. 942 EAST MADISON STREET." the dispatcher said over the radio.

"You guys go. I'll stay with Brett." Matt said as Emily and Stella left for the call.

While Emily and Stella were out on the call, Matt was waiting to hear news about Sylvie.

"What's going on?" Matt asked Will.

"Sylvie is doing good. She was dehydrated and she hadn't ate much. We are giving her fluids and an IV to help. She should be discharged later if she feels better." Will said.

"She was in car accident the other day. Dr. Manning wanted her off work but Brett convinced Dr. Manning to put her on light duty. Do you think that this will be a problem for her to get back to work?" Matt asked.

"Maybe. I'll have Natalie take a look and we'll go from there. Alright." Will said.

"Can I go see her?" Matt asked.

"Sure, but also make sure she gets some rest." Will said as he walked away to check on other patients.

Matt walked towards Sylvie's room. He was worried about her.

"Hey, how are you feeling?" Matt asked.

"Better. I guess you could say I haven't taken care of myself lately." Sylvie sighed.

"Anything else you wanna tell me?" Matt asked.

"I hate being off work but I do need to take care of myself first." Sylvie said.

"Care for some visitors?" Boden asked.

"Hey, Chief." Sylvie smiled.

Boden walked over and gave Sylvie a hug.

"How are you doing?" Boden asked.

"I need to take better care of myself. I know that I have some medical leave saved up and I hate to ask, but if it's alright, can I have that time off to rest and take care of myself?" Sylvie asked.

"You don't even have to ask. I'll take care of it. You just concentrate on getting better and taking care of yourself." Boden said.

"Thanks, Chief." Sylvie said.

Dr. Natalie Manning came into Sylvie's ER room.

"I heard you were here. How are you feeling?" Natalie asked.

"I talked to Chief Boden and I'm gonna take some medical leave off work." Sylvie said.

"I'm gonna need you to send me some paperwork if you agree to that." Boden said to Natalie.

"Oh, of course. After looking at your tests and scans, I totally agree with you. I'm gonna recommend two weeks off. Give your body time to heal and rest properly." Natalie said.

"I have about four weeks of paid leave I can take, so Chief..." Sylvie trailed off.

"I got it. Don't worry." Boden laughed.

"Will and I will be back in a little bit to check on you." Natalie said before leaving the room.

Boden said his goodbye and headed back to the firehouse.

"I've gotta get back to the house. Call me when they get ready to discharge you and I'll come get you." Matt said.

"I will." Sylvie smiled.

Matt leaned in and gave Sylvie a kiss and then headed back to the firehouse. Several hours past by and the second shift at Firehouse 51 was getting off shift. Sylvie was still at the hospital when Matt got off work.

"Hey, it's me. I just got discharged." Sylvie said over the phone.

"I'm on my way. I just got off work." Matt said over the phone..

They hung up the phone and Maggie brought Sylvie outside to wait on Matt. Sylvie didn't have to wait but a few minutes. She got in Matt's truck and Matt took her to Kelly's apartment, where he lived.

"Why are we at Severide's?" Sylvie asked.

"I'm taking you to Molly's. We are having Mills and Newhouse's goodbye party. I just have to get something." Matt said.

Sylvie laughed. Matt went upstairs to grab a change of clothes and then he came back and tossed the duffel bag into the bed of the truck.

"What's with the bag?" Sylvie teased.

"Well, you are going to enjoy tonight because come tomorrow, you are gonna be off work for two weeks." Matt said.

"I can't drink tonight, but I am gonna celebrate with my friends. Who knows whenever we will see them again." Sylvie said.

"I know, but I was thinking that I could crash at your place tonight...if that's ok with you." Matt teased.

"It's ok with me." Sylvie smiled.

Matt and Sylvie headed to Molly's for Mills and Newhouse's goodbye party.

"I heard you were giving Med a hard time." Mouch joked as Sylvie and Matt walked into Molly's.

"Yeah, well they didn't want me causing trouble so they sent me home." Sylvie joked back.

"Hey kiddo, you feeling better?" Herrmann asked.

"I am. Um, I'll be off work for a few weeks. I've gotta try to get some rest." Sylvie said.

"You better take care of yourself." Herrmann said.

"I will. Have we missed anything?" Matt asked.

"You're just in time." Mouch said.

Herrmann yelled at everyone in the bar.

"Alright, so we really didn't get to do this when Newhouse decided to leave us temporarily and never come back. Newhouse. Mills. You both will always have a home here at Molly's, here in Chicago, and most of all, your home will always be at 51. We love you guys and will miss you but just remember, we will always be your family. Here's to Newhouse and Mills!" Herrmann said as he made the toast to his friends.

Everyone raised their glasses.

"To Newhouse and Mills!" everyone said in unison and then took a sip of their drink.

"There's my former partner in crime." Sylvie giggled.

"You ok?" Peter asked.

"For now. I'm taking some time off to try to rest and to take care of myself." Sylvie said.

"Well, maybe Casey here can keep you in line while you're off work." Peter joked.

"She's stubborn, but I'll do my best." Matt said.

"I'm gonna go say by to Newhouse. I'm just exhausted and..." Sylvie trailed off.

"I get it. Trust me, I do. Go get some rest. I love ya, Sylvie Brett." Peter joked.

"I love ya too, Peter Mills." Sylvie joked back.

Peter gave Sylvie a hug and then gave Matt one. Sylvie went over and gave Newhouse a hug.

"You heading out?" Newhosue asked.

"Yeah. I'm tired and it's been a long day. I'm sorry we haven't hung out much, but that's Severide's fault." Sylvie joked.

"I've missed this guy. I can't help it." Kelly joked.

"Thanks, Brett. I know we barely spoke to each other, but 51 is still family." Newhouse smiled.

"You both be careful going home." Sylvie said.

"We will." Newhouse replied.

Sylvie gave Newhouse a hug and said her goodbyes to everyone before she and Matt headed out to go to Sylvie's apartment. When Sylvie got home, the only thing she wanted to do was sleep.

"I think I'm just gonna go to bed. I'm tired." Sylvie said.

Matt frowned and Sylvie caught his look.

"Are you coming?" Sylvie giggled.

"I thought...but I don't...I..." Matt stuttered.

"I am going to bed but I have a small air mattress that you can sleep on." Sylvie laughed.

Matt smiled, relieved that Sylvie wanted him to stay. Since they agreed to take things slow, Sylvie wasn't ready for anything else just yet. After everything that happened with Antonio and Kyle, the last thing she wanted to do was rush into something that could end horribly.

"Do I even want to know why you have an air mattress in your bedroom?" Matt asked sarcastically.

"When I first moved in with Otis and Joe, I didn't have a bed, so I used my air mattress, but after I had Otis and Joe put my bed together, I put this up. I never really use it." Sylvie said.

Matt helped Sylvie get the air mattress out and got it set up. Sylvie crawled into the bed and laid down. It didn't take long for her to fall asleep. Matt couldn't sleep though. He cared so much for Sylvie but knew that Sylvie wanted to take things slow and he was completely alright with that. He fell asleep after two hours of trying to get to sleep. Matt was happy that Sylvie was finally getting the time off that she needed in order to rest.


	14. Chapter 14

Hey everyone, this is the final chapter of this story. I hope you all have enjoyed it and I am working on a new fanfic that I will be posting sometime in the near future. I hope you all continue to leave comments and reviews. Thank you all for taking time to read this fanfic.

CHAPTER 14

The next morning, Matt woke up. He saw that Sylvie was still sleeping and smiled. She was finally getting the sleep that she needed. Her body was finally resting like it should. Matt got up from the air mattress and walked over the window. He saw a light scuff of snow had fallen last night at some point. It wasn't bad out. In fact, the snow will probably melt later in the day as it gets warmer. Sylvie stirred a little bit before opening her eyes.

"Matt?" Sylvie asked as she woke up.

"Yeah?" he answered.

"What time is it?" she asked.

"Uh, noon." Matt replied.

"You're gonna be late for shift." Sylvie groggily said.

"We're off today, remember." Matt answered.

"Oh, yeah. I forgot." Sylvie answered.

"You got some rest, which is what you needed." Matt said.

"I do feel a lot better." she said.

"Good." he grinned and then walked over to her and gave her a kiss.

She returned his kiss and then her phone rang.

"Hello?" Sylvie said.

"Hey Brett, Stella and I were wondering if you wanted to do a girl's night tonight." Emily said.

"Uh, yeah. I just don't feel like going out tonight." Sylvie said.

"Pizza, makeovers, and a movie?" Emily asked.

"Sounds like a plan." Sylvie answered.

After making plans for tonight, Sylvie and Emily said their goodbyes and hung up the phone.

"Guess I need to get up and get dressed." Sylvie sighed.

"You could just stay in those pajamas you have on." Matt teased.

Sylvie kissed Matt and if there hadn't been a knock, Sylvie was 90% certain that she and Matt would have ended up doing more than just kiss.

"So much for..." Matt chuckled.

Sylvie laughed. They headed downstairs and Sylvie answered the door.

"What are you doing here?" Sylvie asked.

"I came to check on you and to steal my best friend back." Kelly joked.

"Come in." Sylvie said as she let Kelly and Stella in the apartment.

"I take it you both were um..." Stella trailed off.

Sylvie looked and noticed that Matt was shirtless and she was still in her pajamas. Sylvie's face turned red and Matt giggled.

"Uh, no. Casey let me sleep in and we literally just got up when you guys showed up." Sylvie explained.

Kelly gave Matt a knowing look.

"Well, I hate to break up whatever this is but I need your help with something." Kelly said.

"Sure. What is it?" Matt asked.

Kelly pulled Matt aside to leave the ladies to talk.

"Grissom has an arson case he wants me to investigate, even though I'm not with OFI anymore. I need your help because it involves the trailer fire we worked a few months ago after Brett left." Kelly explained.

"Sure. Whatever you need. Uh, let me go get changed and I'll meet you there in a few." Matt said as he headed upstairs to Sylvie's room to get changed.

Kelly told the women what was going on, kissed Stella, and said his goodbyes.

"So tell me what happened between you and Casey last night." Stella asked.

"Nothing happened. He slept on the air mattress and I slept in my bed." Sylvie said.

"Yeah right." Stella smirked.

"What? Nothing happened." Sylvie laughed.

Just as Stella was about to say something, Matt came downstairs. He was fully dressed and had his duffel bag in his hand.

"I'll call you later to check on you." Matt said.

Sylvie walked him out the door and closed it so that Stella couldn't see or hear anything.

"I'll be fine." Sylvie said.

Matt kissed her and she returned his kiss.

"I'll call you later." Matt said as he headed to his truck to go meet Kelly.

Sylvie walked back into the apartment where Stella gave her a look.

"Don't give me that look." Sylvie said.

"I called Foster. She's on her way over here. Figured we could start our girl's night a little early." Stella smiled.

"Alright. Um, I'm gonna go get changed." Sylvie said.

Stella stopped her.

"You're fine dressed like that." Stella said.

Emily showed up with the pizza and beer. Sylvie didn't want to drink due to the fact she had just got out of the hospital from dehydration.

"We have pizza, beer, makeup, and movies. Are we missing anything?" Emily asked.

"Plates are over here." Sylvie said.

Stella and Emily walked over to the kitchen counter where Emily sat down the pizza and beer. All three women grabbed a plate and Sylvie grabbed some Sprite from the fridge and placed it on the counter.

"So just in case you want something besides beer, here's a six pack of Sprite and there's some bottled water in the fridge." Sylvie said.

After they filled their plates with pizza and grabbed something to drink, they walked over to the couch in the living room. Sylvie placed her plate on the living room table and then turned the TV on.

"Ok ladies, what movie or should I say, movies, are we watching today?" Sylvie asked.

"It doesn't matter to me." Stella said.

"Same here." Emily said.

"Center Stage sound good?" Sylvie asked.

"Is that the ballet movie?" Stella asked.

"Yeah." Sylvie replied.

"Hot guys in leotards. Why not?" Stella joked.

"I agree." Emily said.

Sylvie put the movie on and they began watching the movie and gossiping about what's been going on at 51.

"So after you guys left last night, Herrmann decides to break out the karaoke machine." Emily said.

"You're kidding me." Sylvie laughed.

"Nope. That's not even the best part. Watching Severide and those two guys, um, Newhouse and Mills sing some sort of country song while drunk was the funniest thing I've seen in a while." Stella laughed.

"Please tell me you recorded it." Sylvie giggled.

"Girl, of course I did. I mean, I can use it to blackmail Kelly whenever I wanna win an argument." Stella joked.

Stella showed Sylvie and Emily the video and they were all laughing. As they laughed and talked about what's been going on, Joe came home with Chloe.

"Oh hey guys. I didn't know anyone was here." Joe nervously said.

"Hey Cruz!" Emily yelled.

"Hey Foster." Joe replied.

"Well, Severide had to meet Casey for something so I figured that Foster and I could keep Brett company and make sure she's getting enough rest. Plus, it's the one time of the week that we have to do our girl's day and girl's night since we work a lot." Stella said.

"Oh, don't mind us. I just came to get some clothes to take over to Chloe's." Joe said as he went to his bedroom to grab a bag of clean clothes.

He was gone for maybe five minutes and then he came out, said his goodbyes, and then he and Chloe left.

"Ok, so spill it. Did anything happen with you and Casey last night?" Emily asked.

"No." Sylvie answered.

Hours went by and it was night. Emily and Stella had to work the next day and so before they left, they decided to give each other makeovers.

"Brett, hold still." Stella said as Sylvie kept fidgeting.

Sylvie sighed and tried to do what she was told.

"Stella, that looks amazing." Emily said as she looked at the way Sylvie's makeup looked.

"She does look amazing. I wonder what Casey is gonna say when he sees her." Stella teased.

"You guys. Casey isn't gonna see me tonight." Sylvie said.

"Hold on...and there." Stella said as she handed Sylvie a mirror.

Sylvie looked at herself in the mirror.

"Stella Kidd. You are amazingly gifted." Sylvie said.

"I know." Stella said.

Emily fixed Sylvie's hair and after about an hour of styling Sylvie's hair, Emily was finished.

"You guys are amazing." Sylvie said as she looked at herself in the mirror.

Emily had curled Sylvie's hair and then pinned half of it up with a small clip. There was a knock on the door.

"I'll get it." Stella said as she answered the door.

It was Kelly and Matt. Emily was in the bathroom with Sylvie while Stella was in the living room with Kelly and Matt.

"Where's Brett?" Matt asked with concern.

"She's in the bathroom with Foster." Stella said.

"Is she ok?" Matt asked.

"Foster, we're leaving! See you next shift!" Stella yelled as she quickly pushed Kelly out the door with her.

"Well I gotta go. See you later." Emily said as she quickly ran out of the bathroom, grabbed her purse and jacket, and left the apartment.

Sylvie came out of the bathroom not expecting to see Matt.

"Wow." Matt said as he took in the sight of Sylvie.

"I know. I'm still in my pajamas." Sylvie laughed.

"That, but you look amazing. You always look amazing." Matt nervously said.

"Thank you. I don't know why they fixed my hair and did my makeup for but..." Sylvie said as Matt interupted her with a kiss.

She returned his kiss. She craved his kisses all day. Before she knew it, Matt pulled away.

"I want to spend the night with you." Matt insinuated.

Sylvie knew exactly what he meant and smiled.

"I know you want to take things slow and I do too, but I just want to be with you." Matt said.

"I want to be with you too." Sylvie smiled.

She led Matt upstairs to her bedroom. After they walked into her room, Matt closed the door and began kissing her. Clothes came off of the both of them and before they knew it, they were making love in her bed. Neither of them could believe how amazing that felt. Everything felt right between them. It was a perfect ending to the day that they had.


End file.
